It Ends With Us: Justin Baldoni Complains in Voice Memo About Alleged Shunning at Premiere

It Ends With Us director Justin Baldoni shared his thoughts on reportedly being sent to the basement during the film’s premiere in August, in a voice memo that was played on The Megyn Kelly Show on January 7.

The controversy surrounding Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively regarding It Ends With Us shows no signs of fading.

 

In the January 7 episode of The Megyn Kelly Show, which featured Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, the host played an audio clip that allegedly features the It Ends With Us star and director expressing frustration about being sidelined during the film’s New York premiere last August.

 

“On what could’ve been one of the most beautiful nights of my career, I was literally sent to the basement with all my friends and family for over an hour,” Baldoni says in the undated clip, though Kelly did not reveal how she obtained it. “I wasn’t allowed to be seen.”

 

Notably, the Jane the Virgin star’s absence from photos with Lively and their fellow cast members at the star-studded premiere was one of the signs that hinted at potential tension between them.

 

Blake didn’t want me close to her or the rest of the cast, so they guided me off the carpet and took us down to the basement, he shared. We were down there together—my friends and family, the people who care about me the most—and we started laughing at the absurdity of the whole situation.

 

The director of Six Feet Apart mentioned that this moment—which was meant to be filled with material joy—made him think about why he got into filmmaking in the first place.

 

“None of that stuff matters. None of it,” Baldoni told his team. “That’s not why we’re in this business, that’s not why the three of us are here, to go to a premiere like that and be celebrated.”

 

“We’re in this business because we’re artists and we believe in what we do,” he stressed, “and because we want to create art that touches people’s hearts and souls and can inspire them, and that’s exactly what we did.”

 

Baldoni concluded the voice memo—which Kelly noted was just a snippet of a longer recording—with an uplifting message.

 

“I believe that will resonate with each of us,” he said, “and that truth will come out and that light and love will ultimately prevail.”

 

In response to the recently released audio, E! contacted Lively’s representative, who referred to a previous statement that criticized Baldoni’s team for what they describe as “more attacks” directed at their client.

 

“A common strategy to divert attention from allegations of this nature is to ‘blame the victim’ by implying that they somehow invited the behavior, brought it upon themselves, misinterpreted the intentions, or even fabricated the story,” the statement from January 6 noted in part. “Another typical tactic is to flip the roles of victim and offender, suggesting that the offender is, in fact, the real victim.”

 

Justin Baldoni Complains in Voice Memo About Alleged Shunning at Premiere

Since Lively filed a legal complaint in California on December 21,

tensions between her and Baldoni have escalated into a legal battle. On December 31, she took legal action against Baldoni and his company for “severe emotional distress.”

On the same day, Baldoni responded by filing a $250 million libel lawsuit against The New York Times, following their reporting on an alleged smear campaign against Lively after she accused him of sexual harassment on set. The New York Times has stated that they intend to “vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”

 

Additionally, Baldoni’s attorney has indicated plans to pursue legal action against Lively.

 

Amid these ongoing lawsuits, Lively’s team criticized the “more attacks” directed at the A Simple Favor star by Baldoni and his associates.

 

“This is not a ‘feud’ arising from ‘creative differences’ or a ‘he said/she said’ situation,” Lively’s lawyers stated in their January 6 statement to E! News, emphasizing that the allegations in Lively’s initial complaint are “serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation.”

 

Freedman, representing Baldoni and his company Wayfarer Studios, dismissed Lively’s initial complaint on December 21, stating, “these claims are entirely false, outrageous, and deliberately sensational, aimed at publicly damaging our reputation and reviving a narrative in the media.”

 

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