Latest news with #CaliforniaCivilRightsDepartment
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Blake Lively accused of pressuring Taylor Swift amid legal battle with Justin Baldoni
Blake Lively's friendship with music superstar Taylor Swift is now at the center of her legal battle with her former "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni. In a new court filing Wednesday, attorneys for Baldoni claim Lively pressured Swift to get involved in the legal back and forth, which first began in December. That month, Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of "It Ends With Us," which he also directed. Lively and Baldoni subsequently launched dueling lawsuits against each other, with Lively alleging that Baldoni and key stakeholders of the film sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni's production company and crisis PR company, The Agency Group PR, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her. Baldoni denied the allegations via a statement from his attorney, who called Lively's actions "shameful" for making "serious and categorically false accusations" against Baldoni. Baldoni later sued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, the couple's publicist Leslie Sloane, and Sloane's public relations company, Vision PR, for extortion and defamation, among other things. Lively's lawyers called Baldoni's lawsuit "another chapter in the abuser playbook" and accused Baldoni of "trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni." Earlier this month, Swift was subpoenaed by Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman. Lawyers for Lively and Reynolds responded by trying to block the subpoena, which Baldoni's attorneys argued was necessary. Citing "a source," Baldoni's legal team claims in Wednesday's court filing that Lively's attorney "demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively" amid the legal scuffle, alleging that "if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively's possession would be released." Baldoni's attorneys allege in the new filing that, "Lively requested that Taylor Swift delete their text messages." The court filing also claims that "a representative of Ms. Swift addressed these inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats in at least one written communication." In response, Lively's lawyer, Mike Gottlieb, asked the court to strike the documents as "unnecessary, improper and abusive." Gottleib said in a statement to ABC News Wednesday that the allegations made in Baldoni's court filing are "categorically false." "This is categorically false. We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality," Gottlieb said. "This is what we have come to expect from the Wayfarer parties' lawyers, who appear to love nothing more than shooting first, without any evidence, and with no care for the people they are harming in the process. We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here." Taylor Swift spokesperson responds to subpoena in Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni legal feud Baldoni's initial complaint against Lively, filed in January, detailed a text message he allegedly received from Lively in which Baldoni claims Lively referred to Swift and Reynolds as her "dragons." The complaint claimed Lively leveraged her relationships with high profile individuals like Swift and Reynolds to exert her influence over the film. Swift has not responded to ABC News' request for comment about the latest court filing. In response to being subpoenaed, a spokesperson for Swift said she was only involved in licensing her song "My Tears Ricochet" for the film and was never on set. "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. "The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, 'My Tears Ricochet.'" The spokesperson added, "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." Lively and Baldoni are due to appear in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 9, 2026. Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends with Us' legal battle: A timeline Read more about the Lively-Baldoni legal battle here. Blake Lively accused of pressuring Taylor Swift amid legal battle with Justin Baldoni originally appeared on
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
Blake Lively accused of pressuring Taylor Swift amid legal battle with Justin Baldoni
Blake Lively's friendship with music superstar Taylor Swift is now at the center of her legal battle with her former "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni. In a new court filing Wednesday, attorneys for Baldoni claim Lively pressured Swift to get involved in the legal back and forth, which first began in December. That month, Lively filed a complaint against Baldoni with the California Civil Rights Department accusing him of sexual harassment on the set of "It Ends With Us," which he also directed. Lively and Baldoni subsequently launched dueling lawsuits against each other, with Lively alleging that Baldoni and key stakeholders of the film sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni's production company and crisis PR company, The Agency Group PR, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her. Baldoni denied the allegations via a statement from his attorney, who called Lively's actions "shameful" for making "serious and categorically false accusations" against Baldoni. Baldoni later sued Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, the couple's publicist Leslie Sloane, and Sloane's public relations company, Vision PR, for extortion and defamation, among other things. Lively's lawyers called Baldoni's lawsuit "another chapter in the abuser playbook" and accused Baldoni of "trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni." Earlier this month, Swift was subpoenaed by Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman. Lawyers for Lively and Reynolds responded by trying to block the subpoena, which Baldoni's attorneys argued was necessary. Citing "a source," Baldoni's legal team claims in Wednesday's court filing that Lively's attorney "demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively" amid the legal scuffle, alleging that "if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively's possession would be released." Baldoni's attorneys allege in the new filing that, "Lively requested that Taylor Swift delete their text messages." The court filing also claims that "a representative of Ms. Swift addressed these inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats in at least one written communication." In response, Lively's lawyer, Mike Gottlieb, asked the court to strike the documents as "unnecessary, improper and abusive." Gottleib said in a statement to ABC News Wednesday that the allegations made in Baldoni's court filing are "categorically false." "This is categorically false. We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality," Gottlieb said. "This is what we have come to expect from the Wayfarer parties' lawyers, who appear to love nothing more than shooting first, without any evidence, and with no care for the people they are harming in the process. We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here." Baldoni's initial complaint against Lively, filed in January, detailed a text message he allegedly received from Lively in which Baldoni claims Lively referred to Swift and Reynolds as her "dragons." The complaint claimed Lively leveraged her relationships with high profile individuals like Swift and Reynolds to exert her influence over the film. Swift has not responded to ABC News' request for comment about the latest court filing. In response to being subpoenaed, a spokesperson for Swift said she was only involved in licensing her song "My Tears Ricochet" for the film and was never on set. "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. "The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, 'My Tears Ricochet.'" The spokesperson added, "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." Lively and Baldoni are due to appear in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 9, 2026.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google settles lawsuit alleging bias against Black employees
Google agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the search engine giant was racially biased against Black employees. The settlement, which was reached after mediation and certified by a U.S. District Court judge in Oakland on Friday, covers some 4,000 Google employees in California and New York. The original lawsuit came after a state agency, now known as the California Civil Rights Department, in 2021 began investigating Google's treatment of Black female workers. In 2022, former Google worker April Curley filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Jose alleging that she and other Black workers experienced systemic discrimination. Curley, who worked at Google for six years, had been hired to conduct outreach and design recruiting programs with historically Black colleges. However, her experience at the company quickly soured, she said, alleging that she was stereotyped as an "angry" Black woman, that she and other Black women had not been allowed to present during important meetings and that she was wrongfully terminated in 2020 after challenging internal practices. Black workers were hired to lower-level jobs, paid lower wages, subjected to hostile comments and denied promotions, Curley and other Black workers who joined the proposed class-action alleged in their lawsuit. The complaint said managers disparaged Black employees for not being "Googley" enough, comments the plaintiffs said served as racist dog whistles. Throughout the litigation, the Mountain View-based company has maintained that it did not violate any laws. "We've reached an agreement that involves no admission of wrongdoing. We strongly disagree with the allegations that we treated anyone improperly and we remain committed to paying, hiring, and leveling all employees consistently," Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement Tuesday. In addition to the monetary payout, Google has agreed in the settlement to analyze pay and correct differences based on race for the next three years. The company has also committed to maintaining transparent salary ranges and methods for employees to report concerns about pay or other practices. And through August 2026, the company will not require employees to enter into mandatory arbitration for employment-related disputes, according to the settlement agreement filed last week in federal court. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Google settles lawsuit alleging bias against Black employees
Google agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the search engine giant was racially biased against Black employees. The settlement, which was reached after mediation and certified by a U.S. District Court judge in Oakland on Friday, covers some 4,000 Google employees in California and New York. The original lawsuit came after a state agency, now known as the California Civil Rights Department, in 2021 began investigating Google's treatment of Black female workers. In 2022, former Google worker April Curley filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Jose alleging that she and other Black workers experienced systemic discrimination. Curley, who worked at Google for six years, had been hired to conduct outreach and design recruiting programs with historically Black colleges. However, her experience at the company quickly soured, she said, alleging that she was stereotyped as an 'angry' Black woman, that she and other Black women had not been allowed to present during important meetings and that she was wrongfully terminated in 2020 after challenging internal practices. Black workers were hired to lower-level jobs, paid lower wages, subjected to hostile comments and denied promotions, Curley and other Black workers who joined the proposed class-action alleged in their lawsuit. The complaint said managers disparaged Black employees for not being 'Googley' enough, comments the plaintiffs said served as racist dog whistles. Throughout the litigation, the Mountain View-based company has maintained that it did not violate any laws. 'We've reached an agreement that involves no admission of wrongdoing. We strongly disagree with the allegations that we treated anyone improperly and we remain committed to paying, hiring, and leveling all employees consistently,' Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement Tuesday. In addition to the monetary payout, Google has agreed in the settlement to analyze pay and correct differences based on race for the next three years. The company has also committed to maintaining transparent salary ranges and methods for employees to report concerns about pay or other practices. And through August 2026, the company will not require employees to enter into mandatory arbitration for employment-related disputes, according to the settlement agreement filed last week in federal court.
Buzz Feed
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Times Taylor Swift Was Mentioned In It Ends With Us Promo
On Friday, it was revealed that Taylor Swift is officially being subpoenaed as a witness in the ongoing legal case between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively in relation to their 2024 movie, It Ends With Us. Both Justin and Blake starred in the film, with Justin also the director. If you need reminding, Blake filed a complaint against Justin with the California Civil Rights Department on Dec. 20, accusing him of sexual harassment on the movie's set, and coordinating a smear campaign to damage her reputation. The next day, The New York Times published a story supporting Blake's allegations about Justin's PR team deliberately setting out to paint her in a bad light, and Justin was dropped by his agency. Then, on Dec. 31, Blake filed a lawsuit suing Justin, his production company Wayfarer, and his PR representatives Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel. However, that same day, Justin announced that he is suing The New York Times for $250 million for its Dec. 21 article. On Jan. 16, Justin filed a countersuit against both Blake and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, requesting $400 million in damages and alleging defamation, civil extortion, breach of contract, and more. Justin has vehemently denied the sexual harassment claims, and on Feb. 1, Justin's legal team launched a website that puts all of his correspondence with Blake throughout the production and filming of It Ends With Us on public display. The evidence provided on this website put Blake's allegations in a whole new light for some, with Justin's team alleging that she essentially took over the production of It Ends With Us, and enlisted both Ryan and her best friend Taylor in a bid to make Justin bend to her whim. In one alleged text from Blake that Justin's team put forward as evidence, Blake references the HBO series Game of Thrones as she brands herself a 'Khaleesi' and seemingly hints at Ryan and Taylor being her 'dragons.' 'If you ever get around to watching Game Of Thrones, you'll appreciate that I'm Khaleesi,' her alleged text to Justin reads. 'And like her, I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually for better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really, we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will too, I can promise you.' In another exchange, Justin references Ryan and Taylor being present at a meeting he had with Blake, writing in a text to his costar: 'I really love what you did. It really does help a lot. Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor).' However, a representative for Taylor has now denied that the music superstar had any involvement in It Ends With Us outside of licensing her song "My Tears Ricochet" for use in a trailer and scene from the film. They also claimed that Justin's team only subpoenaed her for 'tabloid clickbait.' In a statement to People, Taylor's spokesperson said: '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 connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, 'My Tears Ricochet,'' the statement went on. '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, it's worth noting that the texts used in Justin's evidence are far from the first time that Taylor's name was mentioned in association with It Ends With Us, with there being multiple instances of the cast referencing the singer during their promo tour. Blake reiterated this during an interview on CBS Mornings, when host Gayle King asked her about whether Taylor volunteered her song for inclusion in the film, or if Blake had asked. Side-stepping the question somewhat, Blake said: 'She was with me throughout this whole process. I think, for better or worse, she experienced the whole thing with me.' And directly contradicting Taylor's rep's comment about the star not being involved in any casting decisions, actor Isabela Ferrer said that Taylor was instrumental in landing her role in It Ends With Us, with Isabela playing the younger version of Blake's character, Lily Bloom. Justin confirmed this in an interview with Access Hollywood, where the reporter said to him: '[Isabela] told me Taylor Swift helped her get the role signed off, on her audition tape,' and Justin replied: 'I was casting, and I had actually brought in and showed her casting tape to Blake and Taylor, and they were both like: 'Yes, her,' that's a true story.' Discussing Taylor's involvement in her being cast, Isabela added to Extra: 'I don't even know if I'm meant to be saying it, but yeah, she was a helpful part of the process, of the audition. I found out later, after I got it, and that rocks my world. I have no words.' Blake even included a 'special thanks' to Taylor in the end credits of the film. Interestingly, Taylor did not promote It Ends With Us on her social media pages when it was released, even though she is no stranger to plugging her friends' projects to her fans; including Ryan's movie Deadpool & Wolverine, which was released at around the same time. She has not publicly commented on any of the drama surrounding the film or the subsequent legal cases, and Lively v Wayfarer Studios is set to go to trial in March 2026. Let me know your thoughts on the whole thing in the comments below.
