Taylor Swift subpoenaed in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni case
CNN
Taylor Swift has been subpoenaed in the case between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
Taylor Swift has been subpoenaed in the case between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. Swift – a longtime friend of Lively’s – was first mentioned in connection to the ongoing legal dispute between Lively and her “It Ends with Us” director and costar when text exchanges were revealed to include the name “Taylor” as part of Baldoni’s $400 million defamation countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds in January. One of the text messages included in Baldoni’s suit appears to show an exchange between Baldoni and Lively about the script for the film: “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),” Baldoni wrote with a wink emoji. “You really are a talent across the board. Really excited and grateful to do this together.” A spokesperson for Swift on Friday told CNN, “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.” “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,” the spokesperson added. Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights Department in December, preceding a lawsuit that followed about a week later. She also claimed that Baldoni, along with his PR representatives, orchestrated a “social manipulation campaign” to hurt her reputation in the media while they were promoting “It Ends with Us,” their 2024 film at the center of the dispute.
