
Justin Baldoni's lawyer blasts Blake Lively's ‘false victory tour' after $400m countersuit was dropped
Bryan Freedman, representing the 'It Ends With Us' director, had some choice words for the 'Gossip Girl' alum after she celebrated her legal win by attending the Chanel Tribeca Festival Artists Dinner in NYC Monday night.
Speaking to TMZ, Freedman said that Baldoni's legal upset 'hasn't proved a thing.'
Advertisement
4 A judge this week scrapped Justin Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit alleging extortion and defamation against Blake Lively.
Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images
'As a matter of fact, it's just the opposite,' he said, adding that 'what we wanted our win is to show there was no smear campaign, and there's no sexual harassment.'
'Look at the facts, look at what's been shown, look at the receipts, look at the video,' he went on, adding that he had hoped Lively didn't 'drop her lawsuit … because she's on a false victory tour, and she's afraid of the truth.'
Advertisement
'The truth is, you know, going to be shown through depositions, which is what's going to be next, I've noticed her deposition — it's set in June — we're going to see if she's going to appear at that deposition or not,' Freedman told the outlet.
'And we're gonna proceed forward with the case, and we're gonna show that there was no sexual harassment, and we're gonna show that there was no smear campaign.'
The Post has reached out to Lively's reps for comment.
4 Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, has since slammed Lively's recent grin-filled outings as a 'false victory tour.'
GC Images
Advertisement
4 Lively celebrated her legal win by attending the Chanel Tribeca Festival Artists Dinner in NYC Monday night.
Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock
Elsewhere, Freedman slammed the 'Age of Adaline' actress' 'predictable declaration of victory.'
'Ms. Lively and her team's predictable declaration of victory is false, so let us be clear about the latest ruling,' he told Page Six Tuesday.
'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,' he continued.
Advertisement
'This case is about false accusations of sexual harassment and retaliation and a nonexistent smear campaign, which Ms. Lively's own team conveniently describes as 'untraceable' because they cannot prove what never happened.'
In addition to dismissing Baldoni and Wayfarer's $400 million countersuit against Lively, the judge also dropped Baldoni's $250 million defamation lawsuit against the New York Times.
4 Freedman slammed the 'Gossip Girl' alum's 'predictable declaration of victory.'
Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock
Though Judge Liman granted Lively's motion, he gave Baldoni a chance to amend and refile his claims against Lively and Reynolds, which must be done by June 23.
Lively's lawyers, Esra Hudson & Mike Gottlieb, celebrated Monday's legal win, calling it a 'complete vindication' for the actress.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
'The Office' Star Announces He's Quitting Comedy
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors Craig Robinson has been a regular fixture in the world of screen comedy for years, in everything from sitcoms like "The Office" and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" to films like "Pineapple Express" and "This Is the End". But now Robinson says he's leaving comedy behind for good. The "Hot Tub Time Machine" star put out two different videos on his Instagram account about this huge life change. In the first video, Robinson said, "Just want you to hear it from me. I am quitting comedy, but not for nothing. It's been an amazing run, and y'all been amazing and wonderful. But I'm following something bigger. So, you know, thank you so much. I love you, and stay tuned." Read More: 'Buffy' Reboot Star Teases Return of Dead Characters The caption to the video mentioned Robinson working on "something huge" and named it his "true calling." The cast of "The Office" which aired on NBC from 2005 to 2013. The cast of "The Office" which aired on NBC from 2005 to 2013. NBC Robinson released a video the following day, asking for advice because he had encountered "a few bumps in the road." He captioned the video, "Turns out having a dream and building a business with your friends are two VERY different things. I can't go into detail just yet, but for real though any help would be huge." So far the celebrity world has turned out to voice their support to Robinson as well as a few jokes. Robinson's "The Office" co-star Kate Flannery commented on one of his posts, writing "We love you, craig!!! Go big, my friend!!!" "Scream" alum David Arquette wrote "I hope it involves Music! You're brilliant at whatever you chose to do." Meanwhile, Howie Mandel joked, "Being a dancer is tough, but go for it." Former talk show host Arsenio Hall wrote, "You been called to preach? 'If loving you is wroo0ng, – – – I don't wanna be riiiiiight'!" Including upcoming projects, Robinson has 100 acting credits listed on IMDb, starting in 2001. His credits include "Ghosted", "Dolemite Is My Name", "The Cleveland Show", "American Dad!", "Krapopolis", "Reno 911!", "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story", "Knocked Up", "Big Mouth", and more. Along with his comedy and acting career, Robinson has shown a passion for music. Since 2007 he's been a member of the funk/hip-hop/R&B band The Nasty Delicious. Speaking on Vulture's Good One podcast, Robinson said, "When I am with the band, I feel like I can fly — like being at an Earth, Wind & Fire concert. Sometimes I'm a straight musician, sometimes I'm doing comedy and music, sometimes it's straight comedy and the band is quiet. It's all-encompassing." More TV: 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' Canceled 'Harry Potter' Reboot Series Casts Four of Its Best Villains

USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
July 4th fireworks on TV: Bigger NYC show to fire 80,000 shells around Brooklyn Bridge
Even TV events with built-in dramatic explosions get a bigger boom with a returning star. NBC's 49th annual Macy's 4th of July Fireworks viewing party on July 4 (8 ET/PT, and streaming live on Peacock) brings the holiday heat with the return of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge as a stunning spectacle backdrop for the first time since 2019. The famed 142-year-old suspension bridge with the telltale Gothic columns will undergo a digital facelift for its pyrotechnical closeup of 80,000 shells, following a concert hosted by Ariana DeBose featuring the Jonas Brothers, Trisha Yearwood, Lenny Kravitz, Keke Palmer, Ava Max and Eric Church. 'The Brooklyn Bridge absolutely stars in the concert and in the fireworks shot off four barges and from various points," says executive producer Will Coss, adding the bridge and columns will be enhanced digitally by "bespoke" projection mapping, which "will bring these static columns to life for the first time." New Yorkers can view the fireworks from several vantage points in the city. But TV viewers get up close to the biggest televised Independence Day fireworks show. Here's what to know about Macy's 4th of July Fireworks. The fireworks are desert-tested, 'Oppenheimer'-style Coss calls the fireworks, a 25-minute "beautifully choreographed dance" to a musical score produced by Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson and James Poyser, accompanied by a live performance from DeBose. Gary Souza, the show's pyrotechnic designer for the last 40 years, says he has "literally shopped around the world" for this year's cutting-edge "three-dimensional" display, setting explosions as high as 1,000 feet in the air and firing horizontally from the 1,600-foot main bridge span over the East River. The bridge will be part of each fireworks burst, which will feature eight to 10 effects, many on the bridge itself. "There will be helixes, waves, and snakes that will progress and intertwine almost like a DNA molecule from bridge tower to tower," says Souza. Souza traveled to his ancestral country of Portugal to import a shimmering bridge waterfall display. The product arrived a day before Souza's June test of the show's key explosive elements in California's Mojave Desert, an annual event that resembles the "Oppenheimer" test for fireworks, where the full arsenal can be safely inspected. "They really over-delivered on this waterfall," Souza promises. "It's going to open up like a shimmering curtain in the bridge center all the way across the two towers for 60 seconds and will be one of those 'Oh My Gosh.' moments." 2025 show has more fireworks, fewer drones, still one helicopter Drones have soared into prominence in the world of fireworks displays, including previous Macy's July 4th celebrations. The 2023 event featured a 500-drone light show, and in 2024, hundreds of "pyro-drones" – equipped to mimic the visual effects of fireworks – took center stage in the spectacle on the Hudson River. However, the 2025 Macy's show is "taking a break" from show drones, says Coss, focusing the technological highlights on the bridge mapping. But drone cameras will get "up close and personal to the pyrotechnics," says Coss, supplementing dozens of cameras set in multiple locations to catch the fireworks, along with awed spectators. Still, the best TV camera shots still come from the overhead helicopter, where a high-definition onboard camera captures 'these beautiful, aerial-cinematic shots showing the city throughout the show's entirety," says Coss. Planning has been underway since last year's show. The final months included the desert test and a detailed digital rendering of the show, allowing producers to "pre-visualize" the most dramatic elements and prepare the cameras. One can't-miss show moment will feature eight unique fireworks shells individually shot off barges, including one of Souza's favorites: The Morning Glory. "It's called Morning Glory, but it looks like a jellyfish that bursts into popcorn with red tentacles," says Souza. "That's one you have to look for." The 'Golden Mile' sets up the grand finale The "Golden Mile" is a fireworks display shot from 38 positions over the East River with computer precision. That includes a 1,500-ft, gold-shimmering waterfall cascade spanning the bridge, setting up the grand finale of wall-to-wall fireworks. 'It's going to be a patriotic ending, visceral and heart-thumping with crackling reports at the end," says Souza. "We're planning on delivering a highly entertaining, patriotic show that celebrates America's birthday while over-delivering on the spectacle." Who is performing at the Macy's fireworks? The Macy's concert is hosted by Ariana DeBose featuring the Jonas Brothers, Trisha Yearwood, Lenny Kravitz, Keke Palmer, Ava Max and Eric Church. The fireworks' musical score was produced by Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson and James Poyser, accompanied by a live performance from DeBose. How to watch the Macy's fireworks and what time? The Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show airs on NBC at 8 ET/PT (streaming live on Peacock) with the fireworks beginning at 9:25 ET/PT. There will be an hour-long NBC encore presentation at 10 ET/PT. Telemundo's telecast will air at 9 ET/PT.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Before Saving the Shop in ‘Tires' Season 2, Thomas Haden Church Hadn't Heard of the Show
Planes, Saddles and Automobiles. Thomas Haden Church began his acting career as the lovable airplane mechanic Lowell Mather on the beloved '90s NBC sitcom Wings. As Phil on Netflix comedy Tires season two, he's the one (gently) bossing the grease monkeys around, including his on-screen son Shane Gillis. More from The Hollywood Reporter Netflix Reveals First Look at 'Building The Band' Series, Confirms Liam Payne Guest Judge Role Netflix's Greg Peters on U.S. Tariffs, U.K. Levy Ideas, Why the Streamer Is More Sports Team Than Family 'Fixed': Genndy Tartakovsky's Long-Neutered R-Rated Dog Comedy Finally Gets Unleashed Church is happy to talk about being on both ends of the socket wrench, though really he's at his happiest relaying the cattle count on his Texas ranch. It's all good — I mostly wanted to talk about Tombstone (1993). How aware of were you? Not at all. And I had a connection with an executive at Rough House Pictures, Danny McBride's company (and a Tires production company), because I had another project that they were considering doing like three years ago — something that my partner and I had written. But I got to know this executive Brandon James, and he just reached out to me — it would have been, let's see, probably early September, because I was in London all last summer shooting a film for Netflix. And Brandon reached out to me, and he said, 'Hey, you know, we're doing this show Tires, and we're ramping up for the second season. Would you be interested in playing Shane Gillis' dad?' I knew who Shane was. I thought Shane was hilarious. And so they sent me some scripts and asked me to watch the show, which I did, and I really, really liked it. I really liked the chemistry. I read the scripts and then I jumped on a call with John McKeever and Steve Gerben — two of the guys that created the show with Shane — and we just had a great first meeting. And they just straight-out said, 'Look, dude, if it's going to be you, then we want to build the character of Phil with you — and Shane, obviously — but we all want to do it with you. Not for you, with you.' It was of the highest order of collaboration. I got there two weeks in advance, and every time they had a script meeting, I was there just pitching ideas and listening and really just becoming a cohesive gear in the machine. You came in for season two as Shane's dad, Phil. You dress great, you look great, you buy out Valley Forge Automotive to keep your son and nephew employed — how rich is Phil? He's got the kind of money where he can just show up and be like, 'I want to open half-a-dozen mattress stores, and I want you to manage them.' He's that guy. What was your response when you found out shoots in Westchester, Pennsylvania? That was absolutely a major attractant. I did (HBO's) Divorce for three seasons, but it felt like more than that. I lived in New York for the three seasons that we did, and I vowed that I would never do another TV series in New York. Of course, now that I've said that, it's out in the ether. Now I'm gonna get approached to do a series in New York. But I lived in L.A. for 12 years, and I did two television series in New York. Not terribly long after that, I just moved to Texas and I've been living [there] full time for 24 years now. I sold my house in L.A. in like 2001-2002 and just never looked back. You went back home. Yeah. The very first morning I was in L.A., there was like a 6.0 earthquake, and I was like, 'This is not for me.' As soon as I started working and making money, I almost immediately bought a home in Texas. I had a place in Austin for several years in the '90s, and then I sold that place and bought my ranch out here— we live about an hour from San Antonio, and then my ranch is about 90 minutes, give or take, from San Antonio. It's home. We grew up hunting with my dad, and the very first season of Wings, one of my brothers — who's an attorney in Dallas — was like, 'Do you ever think about deer hunting again?' And I was like, 'Yeah!' He said, 'Why don't we find a place to hunt?' And so we did. We found a ranch to hunt on that's about 20 miles from where I'm sitting right now — that was 35 years ago. And whenever I started hunting again, it just reignited my lifelong dream of owning a real cattle ranch and being a real cattle rancher. And I have been for 26 years. I've kind of downsized because I'm getting older, but I don't know, 10-15 years ago, we had about 400 head, which still not a big operation, but big enough that we were making money at it. You're a real cowboy, like your character Billy Clanton in . It wasn't easy to make that jump from TV in the '90s — especially for the guy who played Lowell — how did that come about? So, in the spring of '93 wings, Northern Exposure, Beverly Hills, 90210 and China Beach were all very popular shows, and when Tombstone was casting. The Disney execs apparently sent down to the producers and the writer/director some kind of a note that they wanted the movie to cast some television actors, and that's what they did. And they cast John Corbett (Northern Exposure), they cast Jason Priestley (Beverly Hills, 90210), myself (Wings), and Dana Delany (China Beach), and that's how I got into my first film. Well, I say Tombstone was my first film, but I had done a TV movie. It wasn't supposed to be a TV movie, but it ended up being a TV movie. I was working with Sam on (the TV movie) and we really hit it off. We were shooting one night, and I had gone in and met with with the [Tombstone] screenwriter Kevin Jarre and the director (George P. Cosmatos). It was just a meeting, it wasn't even an audition. We just talked about the Civil War, because I loved Glory (1989), which he wrote, and the Old West, because I'm kind of a little bit of an Old West history guy. Then I had to go back out to Palm Springs where we were shooting (the TV movie). That night — we were doing some night work — and Sam and I were standing there, and Sam goes, 'May need to get ya on the back of a horse.' I didn't get it. Again he said, 'May need to get ya on the back of a horse.' 'Oh, shit!' I got it. (Sam Elliott voice) 'Congratulations, Thomas, you deserve it.' And let me tell you something, I went to cowboy school on the back of Sam Elliott. Sam immediately got me with a wrangler friend of his who lived out there in the desert, and I started— every spare minute I had while I was shooting another movie, I would go out riding with this wrangler friend of Sam's. Then after I finished shooting that, Sam had a really good friend in West Texas who had a big ranch, and Sam, he literally told me, goes, 'You're going to go out there and you're going to work as a cowboy for them, because they're doing their their spring roundup — they're marking calves.' And that's what I did. I went out to cowboy on this huge ranch for a month, and then, literally, the day I finished, I drove back to Dallas, and I flew directly from Dallas to Tucson and went to work on Tombstone. When I showed up, I was pretty seasoned in the saddle. But we didn't do a lot of riding in Tombstone, that was always a little bit of a disappointment to me — because we were cowboys. This conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise