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Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
A judge's dismissal of Justin Baldoni's $400 million defamation suit is a win for Blake Lively, but it's not 'game over'
Legal experts say Blake Lively has scored a key legal win against Justin Baldoni. A New York judge dismissed Baldoni's defamation case against Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and the NYT. Still, one expert told BI it's not "game over" for Baldoni since "the judge has granted him permission to amend his claim." Blake Lively just scored a major win in her ongoing legal battle with "It Ends With Us" director-costar Justin Baldoni, but the court fight isn't over yet. Legal experts told Business Insider the dismissal of Baldoni's $400 million defamation suit is an important win for Lively and her team, especially in a case where reputation is more at stake than money. "Even though it was a New York judge, the judge applied California law, and that's important because California is one of the most First Amendment-friendly states in the country," Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and cofounder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told BI. Although the case was filed in New York, California laws apply because the events in question took place in the state. "The fact that the vast majority of the claims were dismissed with prejudice, which means that they can't be refiled, is a huge setback for Baldoni," Rahmani added. On Monday, a New York judge dismissed Baldoni's $400 million defamation countersuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and The New York Times. Baldoni argued that the parties conspired to destroy his career with false allegations after Lively filed a federal lawsuit against Baldoni, which accused him of sexual harassment and retaliation. In her complaint, Lively said that Baldoni and the producers of "It Ends With Us" orchestrated a smear campaign against her after she raised concerns about on-set conditions during the film's production. Baldoni has denied the allegations. A spokesperson for Lively said in a statement to BI that the lawsuit dismissal is "a total victory and a complete vindication" of the actor. "As we have said from day one, this '$400 million' lawsuit was a sham, and the Court saw right through it," said the spokesperson, who added that Lively plans to seek attorneys' fees, treble damages, and punitive damages from Baldoni and his associates. US District Judge Lewis J. Liman ruled that Lively's sexual harassment allegations in her lawsuit are legally protected speech. The judge also ruled Baldoni's allegations that Lively engaged in an extortion campaign to seize creative control of "It Ends With Us" from Baldoni did not qualify as civil extortion under California law. Liman says Baldoni can refile an amended suit against Lively regarding his contract breach and interference allegations. Baldoni has until June 23 to file that amended complaint. Baldoni's camp would not confirm to BI whether they would refile, but a statement from his attorney, Bryan Freedman, suggested that the director has plans to do just that. "Ms. Lively and her team's predictable declaration of victory is false, so let us be clear about the latest ruling. While the Court dismissed the defamation-related claims, the Court has invited us to amend four out of the seven claims against Ms. Lively, which will showcase additional evidence and refined allegations," Freedman said. Freedman added, "Most importantly, Ms. Lively's own claims are no truer today than they were yesterday, and with the facts on our side, we march forward with the same confidence that we had when Ms. Lively and her cohorts initiated this battle and look forward to her forthcoming deposition, which I will be taking." Camron Dowlatshahi of MSD Lawyers, who specializes in sexual harassment cases, told BI that the judge's dismissal is still a major victory for Lively at a very early stage of the case. "Baldoni can amend his complaint to properly allege a cause of action for defamation," said Dowlatshahi. "His amended complaint will likely face another motion to dismiss and cannot manufacture facts, so it remains to be seen whether Baldoni can get to the discovery stage of his case." Lively's lawsuit against Baldoni is still pending and could proceed to trial. Amber Melville-Brown, a media law specialist and partner at Withers, told BI there may be some hope left for Baldoni if he targets Lively's statements made outside her complaint, which may be less protected. "Libel litigation can be akin to spinning the roulette wheel or sitting down to a game of chance," said Melville-Brown. "So while Baldoni may have lost in this latest hand, it doesn't mean all bets are off. It's not necessarily game over because the judge has granted him permission to amend his claim." "That said, and I'm not a gambler myself. If he didn't play his strongest cards at the outset, it's not easy to see that he's going to come up with a winning hand second time around," Melville-Brown added. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'I Literally Have Almost No Money'—MrBeast Shocks Fans by Borrowing Wedding Funds from His Mom
Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, recently surprised fans by revealing on X that he's borrowing money from his mother to pay for his upcoming wedding. The disclosure comes despite an estimated $1 billion net worth and a business empire reportedly valued at $5 billion, highlighting a paradox of the creator economy: being asset-rich but cash-poor. "I literally have almost no money," MrBeast said in a June 2 post on X.. "I've just been reinvesting everything into content and 'literally' had to borrow money from my mom to help with my wedding lol." Don't Miss: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. This comes as his businesses—collectively known as Beast Industries—were reported by Bloomberg in February to be raising funds at a $5 billion valuation. "I think this year we'll spend around a quarter of a billion on content," Donaldson continued. According to Business Insider, his business generated just under $500 million in revenue last year. This high spending is driven by projects like MrBeast's Feastables snack brand and the Amazon Prime Video series, "Beast Games," which require substantial upfront capital. The show awarded a $10 million prize to its first-season winner—making it one of the most expensive game shows ever produced, Forbes reported. Despite financial constraints, Donaldson and his fiancée, Thea Booysen, are opting for an intimate, low-key wedding. "This will definitely be more family and friends—definitely more private. I don't take much vacation because of how hard I work... It will be the ultimate way to take some time away and enjoy things," MrBeast told People. Trending: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: . Booysen echoed the sentiment, telling the New York Post that they were considering holding the wedding on an island, away from public attention, and described the event as "nice but certainly intimate," focused on close family and friends. Goldman Sachs estimates that the creator economy could reach $480 billion by 2027, powered by more than 50 million active creators. However, MrBeast's experience illustrates that building billion-dollar ventures may come at the cost of short-term personal liquidity. Donaldson said on the "The Diary of a CEO" podcast that while he may be a billionaire "on paper," he has "less than a million dollars" in his actual bank account. Read Next: Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. The average American couple has saved this much money for retirement —? Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article 'I Literally Have Almost No Money'—MrBeast Shocks Fans by Borrowing Wedding Funds from His Mom originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
New York Times
26 minutes ago
- New York Times
Watch: Sue Bird discusses Caitlin Clark's passing and WNBA ownership
Few names are more synonymous with basketball excellence than Sue Bird. A four-time WNBA champion, Bird spent her entire 20-year career with the Seattle Storm, where she earned a record 13 WNBA All-Star selections, made eight All-WNBA teams, won five Olympic gold medals, and still holds the league's all-time assists record with 3,234. Advertisement And on Saturday, she'll be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame at the Tennessee Theatre. Bird has remained just as impactful off the court since her retirement in 2022. She became part-owner of the Storm in April 2024 after joining the team's ownership group, Force 10 Hoops. In May, she was appointed as the first managing director of the USA women's national team. If that wasn't enough, the 44-year-old is also making waves in podcasting. She co-hosts 'A Touch More' with her wife, former soccer star Megan Rapinoe, and hosts her women's basketball-focused show, 'Bird's Eye View.' On the latest episode of 'No Offseason,' Zena Keita and Ben Pickman interviewed Bird to discuss WNBA media, her passion for podcasting, the unique perspective she brings to team ownership, and what makes Caitlin Clark such a special passer. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on the 'No Offseason' feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Keita: Sue, you officially retired in 2022, but you haven't really fully stepped away from the game and you've been very much involved since your retirement. One of the biggest things you've been doing since is podcasting, and you've inserted your voice in a unique way into the world of women's basketball. When you think about the media landscape right now, we know there's been a boom. … You know what it was like when there wasn't that much interest in your practices or games, and now everyone wants to get in there. So what do you see in the media landscape right now when it comes to women's basketball? Bird: Obviously, there's been a ton of growth, which is something we always wanted. It wasn't that we didn't have any coverage, but it was just that we didn't have enough, and now that's starting to enter into the picture. The way I refer to it is like an ecosystem. Think about what happened as the WNBA boomed in the last year or two. This ecosystem grew and more people were coming into it, but we didn't have a balance. We didn't have enough people who really understood the league, who knew the league, knew its history, knew why certain things would happen, why certain wouldn't, and had a true understanding of it. I think that's where I come into play, and not just myself, but other former players who are doing this and people like yourselves who are involved in women's basketball. Advertisement It's important to balance that ecosystem and to have an understanding, because with all the influx of people who were new to women's basketball, they were getting some of the narratives wrong. Some of them were just off, meaning those narratives took on a life of their own at times, and there wasn't something to counteract it, and there wasn't that balance. So the more that starts to increase, and as those of us who really know the game start to get larger platforms, it can all exist. Because sadly in our world today, you do need the hot take, you do need the wrong take, and you need to have these conversations to really get to the bottom of things. But what was missing was accuracy I would say. Keita: Exactly, and I imagine that's what you want to bring with 'Bird's Eye View.' I've been really enjoying that content, and particularly the accuracy you just mentioned where you're allowing players to tell their stories themselves, and provide that perspective and narrative themselves. Was that the impetus for why you launched your podcast? To be able to give players that lane that maybe you remember missing as a player? Or were you even hearing in the ecosystem from players saying, 'I really wish I could talk to a former player as opposed to a media member.' Is that one of the things that 'Bird's Eye View' wants to address? Bird: Yeah, partly, a lot of what I said about the ecosystem was more pertinent to 'A Touch More' because that's kind of how it got started. Then as we were doing that show, we talked about all different sports across the board, but obviously the WNBA and women's basketball was something we tapped into a lot. But I just found that I wanted to go deeper, and I wanted to talk about it more. And what I'm finding now as I'm doing it, is what you're saying, which is that I just really love having these conversations with players. I do think there's that element of being a former player where I'm able to disarm in a different way. But I also know that these players know I'm not trying to get any 'got you' moments, and I'm not trying to catch them out with anything. I'm just trying to have a real conversation. And I do think it gives them a chance to really talk about things and have somebody who can connect, relate and hopefully leave space for them to tell their side. So I've been really enjoying it and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I do have a couple of minutes on each side of the interview where I get to talk about the specific basketball things I want to talk about. Sometimes it's players, teams, themes, whatever it is. But for the most part, it's really just letting these players have that space. Pickman: Sue, when we had Candace Parker on the show, she talked about sometimes needing to take the white gloves off and the importance of that in the ecosystem. What are your thoughts on how media can do things differently, or about the idea of being fair but also critical when the situation warrants it? Advertisement Bird: Fair but critical is a great way of saying it, and that's something that not just Candace and I have talked about, but really all of us have for a long time. There wasn't a lot of critique, and in fairness to everyone who's been around for 20-plus years, it felt too risky to critique at times because it was so easy for so long to jump on that critique and then paint it across the whole league. If you said one bad thing about one thing, that was it: the whole league had no value. So it felt risky. But I do think we're now getting into this place where you can have both. But the important part is to be fair while also critical; both have to exist. And like I said, no 'we got you' moments, but real conversations. And in those real conversations come shooting slumps, come a game or a play where you look back and wish you did something different, or maybe a relationship with a teammate you wish you handled differently. Those are just real conversations. Pickman: You've mentioned some of your conversations with players, but I'm also curious about your conversations with ownership. We know you have an ownership stake in the Seattle Storm, and obviously there's an ongoing CBA negotiation. What have you learned about being on that side of the business? Have you talked to Ginny Gilder, Lisa Brummel, and the other members of the Storm ownership group about the ongoing negotiation? And what do you bring to the mix in terms of those talks? Bird: Yeah, I definitely do stay in touch with them, and what I'm bringing is what I knew I was going to bring the minute I became an owner just over a year ago. Which is I'm on the ownership side of things, but I have a player's perspective and that's unique. At times, I'm able to learn from the ownership group because I don't know that side as well. But then I'm also able to provide a little bit of understanding and nuance on what a player might be thinking in certain situations or certain moments. It's just a really good balance. And at the end of the day, I actually don't feel that much different being on this side as opposed to the player side. We all just want a great deal, and we just want this league to succeed, period, point blank. Pickman: You're the all-time leader in assists, and we have some great passers in the league right now. Courtney Vandersloot unfortunately tore her ACL this past weekend, and she's one of the all-time great passers too. But Caitlin Clark is very much on pace it seems to chase down your record one day. Bird: These records have no chance because they play way more games now. I don't want to get too caught up in the games played because it is what it is. I don't feel any way about it because records are meant to be broken. But I played 34 games for the majority of my career. So the players today are on the clock with these records, they better break those things in like five years. Pickman: Very true, and they probably will. But I wanted to ask, what makes Caitlin Clark so special as a passer in your mind? And what separates her as a passer compared to all her peers? Bird: The important thing to recognize here with Caitlin, and this conversation is we're not even bringing her name up unless she has incredible court vision, and unless she has the type of vision where she's able to anticipate and read. What I would add to that and what I think separates her, on top of all the qualities that most great passers have, is that she has strength. Sometimes she's able to make passes not because she sees it or because she's reading the defense — yes, those things exist, but that's not why she's able to make the pass — she's able to make the pass because she can actually get it there. The easiest way to see it is with her full-court passes, but they also happen in the half-court. Sometimes she'll have picked her dribble up, somebody will cut, and she still has the zip to get a backdoor pass off the bounce to her teammate on time. I would add that strength as a differentiator to some of the other great passers we've seen. You can listen to full episodes of No Offseason for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch on YouTube. (Top Photo:for Fast Company)
