Actor Justin Baldoni‘s former publicist, Stephanie Jones has recently filed a lawsuit against the actor, his company, and his current publicity team. Well, the lawsuit alleges that Baldoni breached their contract which required him to pay Jonesworks $25,000 (Rs 21 lakh) per month. The contract was terminated prematurely in August after publicist Jennifer Abel left Jonesworks and decided to start her own firm as per reports in New York Post.
However, the lawsuit also accuses Abel and publicist Melissa Nathan of staging a smear campaign against Blake Lively. Jones claims she was the one who discovered Abel’s actions after Abel left Jonesworks in August. She reviewed the details from Abel’s returned company phone and found text messages and emails that implicated Abel in collaborating with Baldoni and his studio, Wayfarer that carried out a campaign against Lively. She also sued crisis manager Melissa Nathan, for defamation and breach of contract.
Jones also stated that she has been unfairly implicated despite having no involvement in the alleged misconduct. She alleges that Abel and Nathan are now attempting to shift the blame on her. The lawsuit states, ‘To this day, Abel and Nathan continue to point the finger falsely at Jones now that their own misconduct is coming to light, and to defame and attack Jones in the industry’.
The lawsuit accuses Abel, Nathan, and Wayfarer executive Jamey Heath of formulating ‘no-holds-barred strategy to discredit and suppress any potential revelations about Baldoni’s on-set behaviour’. A joint statement has been shared by America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, and Alexis Bledel who supported Blake Lively. Their statement read, ‘As Blake’s friends and sisters for over twenty years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation. Throughout the filming of It Ends with Us, we saw her summon the courage to ask for a safe workplace for herself and colleagues on set and we are appalled to read the evidence of a premeditated and vindictive effort that ensued to discredit her voice’.
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