The legal battle surrounding the upcoming film It Ends With Us has intensified, as an Austin-based public relations consultant filed a defamation lawsuit against Blake Lively in Texas federal court on Tuesday. The suit alleges that Lively falsely implicated him in her highly publicized claims of sexual harassment and retaliation against director and co-star Justin Baldoni.
Defamation Claims and Alleged Reputational Harm
The plaintiff, Jed Wallace, along with his crisis management firm, Street Relations Inc., is seeking $1 million for reputational damage and $6 million in punitive damages, claiming Lively’s accusations have caused substantial harm to his career.
Wallace’s lawsuit stems from Lively’s December complaint to the California Civil Rights Department, where she accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and claimed that publicists—including Wallace—had orchestrated a retaliatory smear campaign against her. While Wallace and his firm were later removed from the list of defendants in Lively’s federal lawsuit in New York, they argue that her initial accusations were widely publicized and falsely tied them to misconduct.
