Justin Baldoni scored a massive victory in his ongoing legal saga against Blake Lively this week when a federal judge tossed her sexual harassment claims against him.
The allegations stemmed from their time on set filming the 2024 movie It Ends With Us. Baldoni directed and starred in the film and Lively played the female lead. In a 152-page opinion, Judge Lewis J. Liman of Federal District Court in Manhattan greenlit Lively’s claim of retaliation against Baldoni and his production company to be brought in front of a jury, but he determined her core sexual harassment claims did not meet key legal requirements.
On Friday’s show, Megyn was joined by Maureen Callahan, host of MK Media’s The Nerve, to discuss the ruling, the upcoming trial, and what it means for Lively and Baldoni’s careers.
The Ruling
With Lively’s case against Baldoni set to go to trial in May, Judge Liman’s decision narrows her lawsuit to focus on allegations Baldoni and his colleagues waged a retaliatory campaign on social media and in the press after she made complaints of sexual harassment on the It Ends With Us set.
Baldoni has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct and his lawyers have argued he hired a crisis management firm to protect his own reputation, not to damage hers. Lively’s accusations of sexual harassment, meanwhile, will not make it in front of a jury thanks to the judge’s ruling. He found that the claims did meet key legal requirements.
“The main claim that he sexually harassed her is out because she was basing it on an agreement that he never actually signed and no one from his company actually signed,” Megyn said. “This is just a harbinger of things to come because she’s got more humiliation waiting for her if they actually do go to court on this thing.”
The trial over the remaining claims is scheduled for May after mediation failed to yield a settlement. Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, happens to be Megyn’s attorney and she said Lively is not going to get off easy in court. “He is going to cross-examine her, which should be her worst nightmare,” Megyn said. “She should be under the covers at night praying somehow she can get out of this.”
Lively’s Losing Battle
Another nightmare for Lively, in Megyn’s view, is just how far her star has fallen. “I don’t know what is left of her reputation to ruin because I feel like most of the country now gets what she has done to this guy,” she said. “I think it was more weighted towards her, maybe 65-35, when it first started. Now I think it’s exactly the opposite, and it’s only going to go more in his direction if we go to trial.”
Callahan agreed. “I feel like it’s over. The judge tossed the meat of her complaint… the only stuff that had real teeth,” she said. “I remember reading this New York Times story when it came out, and I actually think that the court of public opinion was more like 90-10. It was so detailed, and the things she was alleging were so awful and specific.”
And then Baldoni, through Freedman, started to tell his side of the story. “And then, as we all began to hear Justin’s side of the story and a very effective… drip, drip, drip, an effective releasing of information in a way that’s very consumable when people are ready to hear it,” Callahan added. “I think what also has really helped damn Blake Lively’s claims were the release in the last batch… of her emails to her A-list friends.”
She believes that was the final hit to what remained of Lively’s credibility. “What wasn’t in those documents, in any of those emails or text messages was, ‘Guys, I need help. He’s sexually harassing me. I can’t show up to work… I need your help,'” Callahan noted. “She is going to show up in a court… in lower Manhattan in May, and it’s going to be a media circus.”
Even if Lively does find a way to win the legal battle, Callahan and Megyn believe she has effectively ended her own career. “She is done because I do not see how another director gets in leave with her and doesn’t think she’s going to try to pull some shit like this. Who would trust her,” Callahan asked. “And by the way, Blake is hurting other women. Every time someone this high profile lies about sexual harassment, you set the rest of real victims back.”
She believes Baldoni, on the other hand, has already won. “Meanwhile, I would happily put money in Justin Baldoni’s pocket,” Callahan concluded. “I’ll go pay to see whatever he does next just as a vote in the culture like I don’t like this and by the.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Callahan by tuning in to episode 1,288 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.