Taylor Swift Subpoena Withdrawn in Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni Case
Yara Sameh
Justin Baldoni's lawyers have withdrawn a subpoena sent to Taylor Swift and her legal team after the firm objected to the request and said it amounted to an 'unwarranted fishing expedition.'
Attorneys for Swift and Blake Lively — who are friends — had filed motions to quash the subpoena, which sought communications between their respective legal teams.
Baldoni is suing Lively, his 'It Ends With Us' co-star, and her husband Ryan Reynolds, alleging that they tried destroy his career with false allegations of sexual harassment.
Lively has sued Baldoni and a cast of publicists on the grounds that they launched an online whisper campaign against her in retaliation for her harassment complaints.
In a statement on Thursday, Lively's spokesperson said that Baldoni had sought to exploit Swift's celebrity to distract from the real issues in the case.
'We are pleased that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties have withdrawn their harassing subpoenas to Taylor Swift and her law firm,' the spokesperson said. 'We supported the efforts of Taylor's team to quash these inappropriate subpoenas directed to her counsel and we will continue to stand up for any third party who is unjustly harassed or threatened in the process.'
Swift was referenced in Baldoni's lawsuit as a 'megacelebrity friend' of Lively's, who came to her defense in a creative conflict.
Baldoni was both the director and co-star of 'It Ends With Us'. According to his allegations, he felt pressured by Swift and Reynolds — whom Lively called her 'dragons' — to accede to Lively's script changes.
The subpoenas to Swift and her law firm — filed on May 8 and April 28, respectively — do not appear to be connected to that particular claim.
According to a court filing from Bryan Freedman, Baldoni's lead attorney, he was instead looking for evidence that Lively's lawyer had threatened to release texts between Lively and Swift unless Swift issued a statement of support for Lively.
Freedman alleged that he received a voicemail on February 14 from 'a person very closely linked to Taylor Swift.'
In a subsequent conversation, this person, whom Freedman declined to identify, claimed that Lively's lawyer had demanded that Swift post a social media statement in support of Lively, and warned that he could release 10 years of texts between the two stars.
According to Freedman's version of events, Swift's lawyer then accused Lively's lawyer of extortion and ended the call.
The person also claimed that Lively had urged Swift to delete their text messages several months earlier, according to Freedman.
Freedman also claimed that Swift's lawyer had memorialized the allegedly extortionate conversation in a letter to Lively's lawyer, which he was seeking to obtain through the subpoena.
Lively's lawyers called Freedman's allegations 'unequivocally and demonstrably false,' and argued that the sole purpose of the court filing was to publicize scandalous claims through a means by which they would be shielded from defamation liability.
Attorneys for both Swift and Lively also argued that the allegations were irrelevant to the claims and defenses actually at issue in the case.
In the court filing, Freedman indicated that the motions to quash would likely become moot, as negotiations were underway with Swift's law firm, Venable LLP. Purportedly, those negotiations have resulted in information being provided voluntarily, obviating the need for the subpoenas.
'The Baldoni and Wayfarer team have tried to put Taylor Swift, a woman who has been an inspiration for tens of millions across the globe, at the center of this case since day one,' Lively's spokesperson said. 'Faced with having to justify themselves in federal court, they folded. At some point they will run out of distractions from the actual claims of sexual harassment and retaliation they are facing.'
A spokesperson for Swift previously dismissed the subpoena as a bid for 'tabloid clickbait.'
'Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even see 'It Ends With Us' until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history,' the spokesperson said.
Judge Lewis Liman previously granted Lively's motion to strike Freedman's allegations from the court record.
The judge also threatened to sanction Freedman in the event of further missteps.
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She has sold 54 million albums in the U.S. and generated 70.746 billion streams. Read Taylor's full message on reclaiming her masters: Hi, I'm trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow. A flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away. But that's all in the past now. I've been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words: All of the music I've ever made… now belongs… to me. And all my music videos. All the concert films. The album art and photography. The unreleased songs. The memories. The magic. The madness. Every single era. My entire life's work. To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it. To my fans, you know how important this has been to me — so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released four of my albums, calling them Taylor's Version. The passionate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music. I can't thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now. All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. I will be forever grateful to everyone at Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. The way they've handled every interaction we've had has been honest, fair, and respectful. This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead. I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven't even re-recorded a quarter of it. The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in the first 6 that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, or photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you're into the idea) for the unreleased Vault tracks from that album to hatch. I've already completely re-recorded my entire debut album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those 2 albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now. I'm extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans. Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen. Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as too industry-centric for broad discussion. You'll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted and ended us up here. Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine… finally actually are. 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Rana Atef On Friday, Taylor Swift announced that she bought back the rights to her first six albums, ending a long-running battle over the ownership of her music. She announced the news on her official website. She posted: "All of the music I've ever made now belongs to me," adding, "I've been bursting into tears of joy... ever since I found out this is really happening." In June 2019, Swift's manager Scooter Braun bought Swift's former record label Big Machine and, with it, all of the songs from Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation. Swift had personal objections to the deal, blaming Braun for complicity in the "incessant, manipulative bullying" against her by Kanye West, one of his clients. Therefore, she re-recorded her previous albums to control their rights. She recorded and released 4 of the 6 albums: Fearless, Red, 1987, and Speak Now. Swift continued in her statements: "To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it," she added, thanking fans for their support. "I can't thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now. "I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away," she described. "But that's all in the past now." read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War Arts & Culture Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks
