Justin Baldoni‘s authorized crew is accusing Blake Vigorous‘s attorneys of attempting to extort Taylor Swift, with the purpose of getting the singer to challenge a public assertion in help of the It Ends With Us actress.
Michael Gottlieb, representing Vigorous, allegedly reached out to an legal professional on the legislation agency, Venable, which represents the singer, and “demanded that Ms. Swift launch an announcement of help for Ms. Vigorous, intimating that, if Ms. Swift refused to take action, non-public textual content messages of a private nature” within the actress’ possession could be made public, in keeping with a letter filed in court docket on Wednesday by Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Baldoni.
Within the letter, Freedman says {that a} consultant for Swift “addressed these inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats” in not less than one written message to Vigorous’s authorized crew. He seeks these communications since they’d substantiate claims that Vigorous is intimidating and coercing witnesses within the sprawling authorized battle. Further particulars weren’t supplied past an undisclosed supply “extremely prone to have dependable data.”
Gottlieb referred to as the accusations “categorically false.” He added, “We unequivocally deny all of those so-called allegations, that are cowardly sourced to supposed nameless sources, and utterly untethered from actuality. That is what we now have come to anticipate from the Wayfarer events’ attorneys, who seem to like nothing greater than capturing first, with none proof, and with no look after the folks they’re harming within the course of. We are going to imminently file motions with the court docket to carry these attorneys accountable for his or her misconduct right here.”
The filling comes days after Swift was subpoenaed by Baldoni’s authorized crew, which declined to remark for this story. Her involvement within the dueling lawsuits pertains to an incident by which Vigorous invited the It Ends With Us director to her New York Metropolis residence in 2023 to debate adjustments to a rooftop scene initially of the film. As soon as there, Baldoni stated he was ambushed by Vigorous’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and shut good friend, Swift, in keeping with the lawsuit, which cites communications that embody the identify “Taylor.” The megastars praised Vigorous’s model of the scene, allegedly pressuring Baldoni to just accept the revisions.
In a textual content, Vigorous referred to Reynolds and Swift as her “dragons.” The message learn, “When you ever get round to watching Sport of Thrones, you’ll recognize that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I occur to have a couple of dragons. For higher or worse, however often higher. As a result of my dragons additionally shield these I battle for.”
Venable on Monday challenged the subpoena, arguing that it the singer and agency don’t have any related data and that Baldoni solely seeks to “distract from the information of the case.” Vigorous and Reynolds supported the agency’s bid to void the subpoena.
In Wednesday’s submitting, Freedman says that he expects to resolve the problem with Venable shortly for the reason that two sides are negotiating in good religion.
Swift didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.