Taylor Swift's Subpoena Withdrawn In Lively V. Baldoni
Taylor Swift's subpoena has been withdrawn from the ongoing Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni litigation.
Last December, Blake sued her It Ends With Us co-star and director, alleging sexual harassment and a retaliatory smear campaign. In return, he denied the allegations and sued her, claiming defamation and extortion. The case is set to go to trial next year.
So, why the involvement from Taylor? Justin essentially tried to argue that Blake used her friendship with the superstar to pressure him into making editorial changes in the movie. Hence, earlier this month, Taylor was subpoenaed as a witness.
Taylor's team immediately shut down the allegations, saying in a statement, "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 statement continued, "The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, 'My Tears Ricochet.' Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift's name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case."
However, Taylor's name continued to be drawn into media attention on the case, as Justin's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, wrote a letter to the judge claiming that he'd heard that Blake's team had attempted to blackmail the singer into supporting her by threatening to release old text messages.
A judge quickly struck the letter from the record, accusing the move of trying to "'promote public scandal' by advancing inflammatory accusations" and adding, "Counsel is advised that future misuse of the Court's docket may be met with sanctions."
This week, Lively's team pushed for Justin's team to be sanctioned, requesting "attorneys' fees and costs' and 'a formal reprimand for the filing of baseless claims as a means of harassing Ms. Lively and gaining favor in the court of public opinion." Justin's team didn't respond to a request for comment.
Fast forward to yesterday, and Variety reported that Taylor would no longer face a court summons as Justin's team had withdrawn the subpoena. As per the publication, both Blake and Taylor's lawyers had filed motions to previously dismiss the summons, which "sought communications between their respective legal teams."
A spokesperson for Blake subsequently said, "We are pleased that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties have withdrawn their harassing subpoenas to Taylor Swift and her law firm...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."
"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," they further alleged. "Exploiting Taylor Swift's celebrity was the original plan in Melissa Nathan's scenario planning document, and it continues to this day. 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."
The "scenario planning document" refers to the PR document that Blake's legal complaint says was sent to Justin, which planned for what might happen "should [Ms. Lively] and her team make her grievances public." The document reportedly said, that it could 'also explore planting stories about the weaponization of feminism and how people in BL's circle like Taylor Swift, have been accused of utilizing these tactics to 'bully' into getting what they want."
As of right now, Justin's team hasn't issued a statement. BuzzFeed has reached out to Bryan Freedman for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
‘Twelve Moons' Debuts First-Look Clip Ahead of Tribeca Premiere, Director Victoria Franco Speaks About Societal Pressures on Women (EXCLUSIVE)
'Twelve Moons,' the feature debut of Mexican filmmaker Victoria Franco, premieres on Saturday in the International Narrative Competition of Tribeca Festival. Variety debuts an exclusive first clip from the film and speaks to the director. The film stars acclaimed Mexican actor Ana de la Reguera, whose career bridges Hollywood and Latin American cinema, alongside Ariel Award winner Enrique Arreola. Filmmaker Michel Franco, Victoria's brother, is a producer on the film, and the Match Factory is handling international sales. More from Variety 'Billy Joel: And So It Goes' Directors Share Inspirational Message From Ailing Singer: 'He Will Be Back' Tribeca Festival: Miley Cyrus' 'Something Beautiful,' Barbara Walters Doc and 11 Other Films We're Excited to See 'The Shadow Scholars,' Executive Produced by Steve McQueen, Debuts Trailer Ahead of North American Premiere at Tribeca (EXCLUSIVE) 'Twelve Moons' follows Sofia, a 40-year-old architect in Mexico City, who has suffered a devastating loss, and must navigate her complex emotions while trying to stay true to herself. As she struggles with her fertility and identity as a woman, both her personal and professional life begin to deteriorate forcing her to look inward to find the light that will lead her forward. In the clip, we see that Sofia has an issue with alcohol consumption, and in the film, we discover she is also a drug user. 'For me, it's really important to portray people who don't feel comfortable with social conventions,' Franco says. 'There are many people who don't feel that they are part of society but feel societal pressure. And as a woman, there is the added pressure to have a child, have a family, be the perfect woman, and I really admire people who are really authentic and don't give in to these pressures.' Sofia is portrayed with empathy and her alcohol and drug dependency should be seen as a 'disease,' Franco says. It is Sofia's way of relaxing when faced with societal expectations and the pressure to conform – to feel 'normal,' overcome her insecurity, and appear self-confident. Unable to conceive, Sofia's life – both personal and professional – starts to unravel. 'She has no boundaries, so she doesn't know how to separate her professional and personal life, and she takes them both so seriously,' the director says. 'She feels that through her architecture, her feelings can become connected with other people. She tries to work in a way that is parallel to her feelings. Architecture is very important in this film, because I portray many places that are representing her feelings through their architecture.' Franco describes Sofia as an 'ethical' architect who tries to create buildings that encourage a feeling of freedom in those who inhabit them. We see her visiting buildings in Mexico City that exemplify that approach, like those designed by the architect Luis Barragán. 'She fights to create spaces that allow people to have more liberty within them. There's a conversation where she's arguing about putting fewer parking lots in order to create more green spaces so people can be happier in these places. 'I love Luis Barragán, who talks about a spiritual architecture, about architecture where you can feel the connection between the space and the mind, and you can feel connected with it, and it's the architecture of silence too. He won the Pritzker Prize, and his acceptance speech was amazing. It's beautiful.' Speaking about Ana de la Reguera, Franco says: 'Ana has great presence. She has a lovely face. She's a person with a deep, deep soul. And when I talked to her about the script, I felt that she was very connected with the matter of being a woman in her 40s and the social demands that people make. 'And she's an actress who has like 20 years of experience, so I was really amazed when we were talking and playing around, like, 'Imagine the camera is here, and what would you do?,' and she was improvising and doing things that I was amazed by, because sometimes I felt that she had known the character for her entire life, like she has lived with her.' Regarding the cinematography, she comments: 'First of all, I decided that the movie should be black and white, so the spectator had no distractions with the colors, and he could be really connected with the emotions and the state of mind of the character. 'And also, the movie is about architecture as well, so it's very geometrical. We looked for many locations that were really hard to get permission to film there, but we made it. There's a beautiful fountain by Isamu Noguchi, the Japanese artist, for example. 'The cinematographer, Sergio Armstrong G., is a genius. We improvised a lot. We never felt that we were in control of everything. We played with the freedom of being in the moment and sensing where to put the camera. We didn't have a shooting list of everything, and I felt so free. If I didn't have this cinematographer, Sergio, it would be pretty difficult, because I was pretty sure of the emotional state and everything but the visual things… it was Sergio who put everything together to make the movie look like the state of mind of the character.' As in film noir, the film uses light and shade to reflect the internal landscape of the character, but there were other cinematic influences. 'Many times, I felt inspired by Italian Neo Realism, because we didn't have much budget for lighting, but with its realism sometimes the film feels like a documentary, and the camera was very, very humbled, because we didn't need so much lighting to make it look beautiful. And the shadows and the geometric forms are so important.' There are similarities to how she and her brother work, she says. 'We both film chronologically. That was very helpful, because the actress was really involved with the process of the character and the emotions, and we improvised a lot, so the script changed a lot while shooting. Michel also does that, so I believe we're similar in terms of production.' She is full of praise for her brother's contribution as a producer. 'I think he was the best producer because he really got my back, and he just cares about the creativity and the process that I wanted, and he never gave up, for example, in getting some locations. Even though we didn't have enough money, he'd fight for everything. So, it was a paradise working with him.' Next up for Franco, she says, is a film about a teenager in New York, for which she is writing the screenplay now. Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Time Magazine
an hour ago
- Time Magazine
How D-Day: The Camera Soldier Preserves Important History Using Immersive Tech
Friday marks 81 years since D-Day, the largest naval, air and land operation in history on June 6, 1944, in Normandy, France. Now, a new documentary will immerse viewers into the action of that pivotal day. Co-produced by TIME Studios's immersive division and the Emmy-nominated immersive documentary team Targo, D-Day: The Camera Soldier— available on the headset Apple Vision Pro —puts users into footage taken by photographer Richard Taylor, a soldier who filmed the landing on Omaha Beach in northwestern France, which saw the most casualties of all of the five beaches that the Allies targeted. It profiles Taylor's daughter Jennifer Taylor-Rossel, 67, who always struggled to relate to her short-tempered father and only saw her father's D-Day footage after his death. Researching her father's past—and venturing to Normandy from Connecticut—made her feel like she was close to him for once. 'Well, I'm crying,' Taylor-Rossel said after viewing the experience for the first time at TIME's Manhattan office on May 30. She had come armed with his Purple Heart, Silver Star, dog tags, and a folder full of letters he wrote about D-Day and photos from his time at war, even a picture of him eating ice cream in Paris. During the 20-minute immersive experience, she smiled when she saw footage of her trip to Normandy and gasped loudly when she watched her father get shot in the arm. The first thing she said when she took off the headset was, 'I hope we don't get into another war.' The immersive experience comes at a time when there are fewer and fewer D-Day veterans alive to talk about what it was like on that fateful day. Immersive media is one key way to preserve stories of people who lived through D-Day for future generations. Here's a look at the man behind the camera on Omaha Beach and what to expect when you're watching D-Day: The Camera Soldier. Who was Richard Taylor? Richard Taylor was born in Iowa in 1907 and left school at the age of 15 to take an apprenticeship at a photography studio. After working as a photographer in New York for several years, he enlisted, at 35, into the Signal Corps in the U.S. Army, charged with documenting World War II. He covered the Battle of the Bulge, Malmedy massacre, and the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. 'Remember we are essentially reporters,' the manual for Signal Corps members says, 'and the job is to get front line news and action…There is little time when in combat for the niceties of photography. Concentrate on good subjects and good basic camera performance, and telling a coherent story. Then you will have done your job.' In a July 1944, roundup of newsreel footage of D-Day broadcast in U.S. theaters, TIME called Taylor's footage from a landing barge under fire on Omaha Beach 'The finest shot of all.' When Taylor had Jennifer, he was in his early 50s and had been married twice before. He'd often complain about pain in his feet from too many nights sitting in cold water in foxholes throughout the war. He didn't really talk about D-Day, though she remembers the first time she saw a big scar on his arm, and when she asked him what happened, he stated very matter of factly that he got shot on D-Day. It's thought that he got hit with a piece of shrapnel. After he died in 2002, Taylor-Rossel found a box of his letters and paraphernalia from the war, but wasn't sure what to do with the items. A decade later, in 2022, a military history expert named Joey van Meesen contacted her, interested in researching Taylor's life and asked her if she saw the footage he shot on D-Day. When she said she had not, he sent it to her. She went out to meet him in Normandy. Taylor-Rossel describes her father as difficult, remote, and hard to have a relationship with. But 'Normandy was the place where I felt connected with him because I had done all of this research on him.' A product of that research is D-Day: The Camera Soldier. What it's like to experience D-Day: The Camera Soldier The Apple Vision Pro projects D-Day: The Camera Soldier onto a big screen, wherever you are viewing it. Users will hear Taylor's biography as they flip through an album of family photos, literally turning the pages themselves. Then, viewers are plopped down in the middle of Normandy American Cemetery with Joey van Meesen. Taylor-Rossel said she felt tears welling up in her eyes when she was surrounded by the D-Day grave-markers while wearing the headset, 'knowing that my dad was there and survived it, but then you look at all these men that didn't survive it.' There's one foreshadowing letter written by Taylor in cursive that users can pick up with their hands and move closer to their headset, in which he says he's 'anxious' about D-Day and 'if I live through it, it's going to be rather rough.' Then there's a box of objects that viewers can pick up themselves, like his dog tags, a thermos, a rations box, and a photo of Taylor holding his camera. Users will find it hard to get a grip on this replica of the camera he used on D-Day. That's intentional, says director Chloé Rochereuil: 'What struck me the most when I held it in real life was how heavy it was. It's a very big object, it's very hard to use. It made me just realize how incredibly difficult it must have been for him to carry this equipment while documenting a battlefield. And that makes the work even more significant.' The experience zooms in on the faces of soldiers, which are colorized. 'They're all like my son's age,' Taylor-Rossel says, marveling at how young the D-Day soldiers were after viewing the experience. As the barge lands on Omaha Beach, viewers begin to hear a male narrator who is supposed to be Richard Taylor, speaking straight from letters that Taylor wrote to family around the time of D-Day. 'In the next six or seven hours, hell would break loose,' he wrote in one. In another, reflecting on the moment when he got hit in the arm by a piece of shrapnel, he wrote, 'Thank God, I made it to the beach without getting more' and described having a hole in his arm 'large enough to insert an egg.' Rochereuil says she was not trying to do a play-by-play historical reenactment or make a video game. D-Day: The Camera Soldier not only provides a glimpse at what it was like to be on Omaha Beach that day, but it also might appeal to viewers who, like Taylor-Rossel, may have had a hard time getting a loved one who served in World War II to open up about their experience. 'Parents are the closest people to us, but often we don't fully know who they were before we existed—like, what were their dreams? What were their fears?' Rochereuil says. 'Her story touches on something universal, which is a relationship that we can have with one parent.' 'The only way to connect people to history is by making it personal. It's no longer abstract. My hope is that immersive media will make history feel alive and relevant again'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Elvis & Lilo & Stitch: 'Everyone's Favorite Elvis-Loving Alien' pulls up to Graceland
Elvis and Ann-Margret. Elvis and Nancy Sinatra. Those teams were popular with audiences. But not as popular as Elvis & Lilo & Stitch. Released in 2002, the Disney animated feature film "Lilo & Stitch" introduced audiences to a lonely young Hawaiian girl and Elvis fan, named Lilo, and her new "pet," Stitch, a somewhat dog-esque genetically engineered extraterrestrial who liked to rampage but really yearned for a hug. Together, the duo pursued 'ohana (a Hawaiian term for "family") while playing "Suspicious Minds" on a portable record player and battling space aliens. Like Stitch's stolen spaceship when it crash-landed on the island of Kauaʻi, the movie made an impact. It earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature (it lost to Miyazaki's "Spirited Away," as any movie would), and collected $273 million at the international box office. (In comparison, 1964's "Viva Las Vegas," with Elvis and Ann-Margret, earned the equivalent of $94 million, in 2025 dollars.) On May 23, Disney released a new "Lilo & Stitch," the latest in its series of more-or-less live-action remakes of beloved animated features (other examples — all with digitally animated characters — include "Beauty and the Beast," "Mulan" and "Snow White," to name a few). Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp (who charmed audiences with the low-budget "Marcel the Shell with Shoes On"), the movie preserves but de-emphasizes its predecessor's Elvis connection. Even so, in the actual live-action world — the world of Disney and Graceland, of marketing and merchandise, of fans of music and movies — Elvis & Lilo & Stitch remain inseparable. "The amazing thing is that each generation gets introduced to Elvis in a different way, and for a certain generation, 'Lilo & Stitch' was how they were introduced to Elvis," said Angie Marchese, vice president of archives and exhibits at Graceland. "Now in their mid-20s, these people became fans because of the Disney movie," she said. "And now there's a whole new generation of kids who will be introduced to Elvis and his music through this new live-action version." How many kids? A lot of 'em: The new "Lilo" immediately established itself as a blockbuster. According to Variety, the entertainment industry newspaper, the movie set a Memorial Day weekend record by collecting an estimated $183 million at the U.S. box office. With the addition of its overseas revenues, Variety added, "Lilo & Stich" is off to "a staggering $341.7 million global start." On May 22, the evening before the movie's official release date, Disney hosted an invitation-only screening of the new movie in the 464-seat theater at The Guest House at Graceland, the hotel on Elvis Presley Boulevard that is located just north of the Elvis mansion. Attendees — mostly Elvis fans already connected to Graceland via various mailing lists — packed the house. They snagged free "Lilo & Stitch" posters and leis, and posed for selfies against Hawaiian backdrops and alongside larger-than-life Stitch figures, dressed in Elvis garb (there was a "Blue Hawaii Stitch," a "Jailhouse Rock Stitch," and a "50000000 Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong Gold Lamé Suit" Stitch). Earlier in the day, an animatronic Stitch in a rhinestone-studded jumpsuit toured Graceland in a miniature motorized vehicle, to the surprise and likely delight of fans. "The lovable renegade alien, who happens to love the music of Elvis Presley, arrived at the gates to Graceland Mansion in a pink convertible before going across the street to view the King of Rock 'n' Roll's jumpsuits and pink Cadillac at Elvis Presley's Memphis entertainment complex," stated a Disney press release about the publicity event. The headline described Stitch as "Everyone's Favorite Elvis-Loving Alien." ELVIS AT 90: Decade-by-decade milestones in the life — and afterlife — of the King The ballyhoo echoed similar fanfare that heralded the release of the first "Lilo & Stitch" 23 years earlier. In 2002, the movie's arrival coincided with Graceland's yearlong commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death; Jack Soden, CEO of Elvis Presley Enterprises, told The Commercial Appeal that the release of an Elvis-connected "classic G-rated Disney flick" would open "a powerful market" for Graceland. In 2002 as in 2025, Disney and Graceland hosted an invitation-only local premiere for "Lilo & Stitch," but the earlier event was more elaborate. The screening of the film at Downtown's now-vanished multiplex, the Muvico Peabody Place 22, was followed by what The Commercial Appeal called a "lavish luau" in front of the ticket pavilion at Graceland, complete with fire dancers, leis made from actual orchids, bamboo huts and costumed movie characters. Testifying to the event's importance, the guest of honor was the nephew of Walt Disney, longtime Disney executive Roy E. Disney, who at the time was vice chairman of the Disney company and chair of Disney Feature Animation. (Roy Disney died in 2009, at 79.) The Los Angeles premiere of the 2002 movie had occurred about a week earlier. Priscilla Presley attended, and told reporters that "Lilo & Stitch" offered "a great message to bring family back together again because really, that's what it's all about. Elvis was very much a family man, regardless of what you hear. He loved family and he always came home." In 2025 as in 2002, Disney and Elvis Presley Enterprises are banking on the appeal of "Lilo & Stitch." The gift shops at Graceland now are stuffed with items from the grandiloquently labeled "Disney Stitch Inspired by Elvis Collection," created by NECA, a pop culture collectibles company. Ranging from $12.99 to $34.99, these include plush and plastic figures of all sizes, showcasing Stitch in Elvis garb. Stitch-as-Elvis pins and other items also are available. The new merchandise augments a still thriving line of "Lilo & Stitch" merchandise, tied to the original film. Stitch "has become a crucial character in the Walt Disney Company's modern empire, mainly in the form of a dizzying array of licensed merchandise," The New York Times reported this week, in a story that called Stitch "a cash cow for the company." Reported the newspaper: "The company's annual financial reports for 2023 and 2024 included 'Lilo & Stitch' on a short list of nine examples of its 'major' licensed properties, putting it on par with classics titans like Winnie the Pooh and Mickey and Friends, and conglomerates like Star Wars and the collective Disney princesses." Meanwhile, vintage 2002 "Lilo & Stitch" collectibles continue to be popular on eBay and elsewhere; these include eight McDonald's Happy Meal toys, one of which presents Stitch in an Elvis jumpsuit, strumming a guitar atop a surfboard. ELVIS WEEK 2025: Graceland to celebrate the King with concerts, panels, vigil and more The new "Lilo & Stitch," for the most part, is remarkably faithful to its inspiration, even to the inclusion of a clip from the same B-movie, 1958's "Earth vs. The Spider." But — somewhat surprisingly, in the wake of the hit Baz Luhrmann biopic — the new movie has less Elvis than the old. Yes, the soundtrack showcases the same songs ("Heartbreak Hotel," "Devil in Disguise," "Hound Dog"), in basically the same situations (although the remake totally bungles the Stitch-as-record-player "Suspicious Minds" scene); but the live-action Lilo (played by Maia Kealoha) is less the Elvis evangelist than was her cartoon counterpart. In the first film, Lilo pays Stitch the ultimate compliment: "You look like an Elvis fan." She pulls out an 8-by-10 "Blue Hawaii" portrait of Elvis and declares: "Elvis was a model citizen." She tells Stitch: "I have compiled a list of his traits for you to practice." This leads to comic scenes of Stitch strumming a guitar while wearing an Elvis-style jumpsuit and pompadour. The film ends with a happily-ever-after vacation "photo" of Stitch and his new human family posing in front of the gates of Graceland. None of these Elvis moments are recreated in the new movie — although Stitch does appear, briefly, in his Elvis jumpsuit during the end credits. Maybe we'll get more Elvis — for better or worse? — in the sequel, if there is one. The 2002 "Lilo & Stitch" was followed by a TV series and three direct-to-video feature films. The first of these features was "Stitch! The Movie," which — perhaps due to budgetary constraints — licensed only one Elvis song, the thematically appropriate but hardly epochal "Slicin' Sand," from 1963's "Blue Hawaii." The lyrics likely did not give Leiber & Stoller sleepless nights. Encourages Elvis, while serenading a bevy of beauties: "Dance, dance, dance/ 'til your toes get tan/ We're gonna have us a ball on the beach/ Slicin' sand..." This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Lilo & Stitch: Elvis references, Stitch merch and a visit to Graceland
