Justin Baldoni's Former Agency Urges Him to 'Just Stop' Going After Blake Lively: 'Let the Process Play Itself Out'

Mar. 15, 2025

Justin Baldoni on Dec. 4, 2024.Photo:Araya Doheny/Variety via Getty

Araya Doheny/Variety via Getty

The talent agency executive allegedly responsible for “firing"Justin Baldonifrom its roster thinks theIt Ends With Usdirector should let the legal “process play out” in his legal battle withBlake Lively.

Ariel Emanuel, whose talent agency WME dropped Baldoni, 41, as a client in December shortly after Lively, 37,filed a sexual harassment lawsuitagainst Baldoni and his co-producers onIt Ends With Us, said during a liveFreakonomicspodcast appearance in Los Angeles on Thursday, Feb. 13 that he continues to support Lively and her husbandRyan Reynoldsamid their legal war with Baldoni.

“Social media is a really good thing at times because it lets stars connect with their fans, but these two guys used it in an evil way, if that’s true,” Emanuel said, seemingly referring to Baldoni andJamey Heath, Baldoni’s co-producer and CEO of their production company Wayfarer Studios. Both Baldoni and Heath were named in Lively’s complaint, which alleged sexual harassment and a coordinated social media effort to smear her name.

“We just have to be cognizant that they should no longer be out there intimidating people, using social media to try to hurt them,” Emanuel alleged. “And using what they had been doing prior to it now to go against them — they should just stop. If they think they’re innocent, they should let the process play itself out.”

In a statement to PEOPLE, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, said, “Perhaps Ari’s perspective would be different if they had ever met in the half decade they were clients of his agency.”

Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively.Dia Dipasupil/Getty; Raymond Hall/GC Images

Dia Dipasupil/Getty; Raymond Hall/GC Images

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Lively is a client of Emanuel’s agency, as is her husband Reynolds, 48, whom Baldoni’s legal team named in the$400 million lawsuithe filed against the couple and their publicist Leslie Sloane in January, alleging extortion, defamation and more.

Speaking of Lively and Reynolds, Emanuel said, “These are good people who have been in the business for decades and have never had any bad press about them. And all the people they’ve worked with like them.”

Later, when speaking of Baldoni, Emanuel confirmed, “I fired him,” adding, “I am a ride-or-die.”

Baldoni and Lively’s legal battle has remained in the public eye over the last month; Baldoni’s attorneyspublished a website linking to his amended complaintfiled in court on Jan. 31. Thewebsite, which is simply titled “Lawsuit Info,” features one page and buttons linking to two different documents related to his legal battle with Lively.

Justin Baldoni on August 8, 2024 on NBC’s TODAY.Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty

After attorneys for both sides argued in a letter filed in New York federal court on Feb. 13 that engaging in settlement talks at this stage would prove “inappropriate” and “premature,” Lively and Baldoni appear set for a civil trial on March 9, 2026.

source: people.com