Blake Lively Subpoenas Perez Hilton and Candace Owens in Effort to Prove Justin Baldoni's Alleged Smear Campaign
Online commentator Owens said in a statement that she has "not the slightest idea what I am being subpoenaed"
Baldoni's lawyer has previously given shoutouts to the "internet sleuth community who continue to cover the case with discernment and integrity"Blake Lively's lawyers are issuing subpoenas to content creators Perez Hilton, Candace Owens and Andy Signore in a quest to prove Justin Baldoni's alleged smear campaign.
TMZ was first to report the new development, citing a source, on Tuesday, July 1, that Hilton, Owens and Signore were given notice of subpoenas in Lively's ongoing legal battle against Baldoni, the It Ends With Us costar-director she accused of sexual harassment and retaliation, which he denies.
Owens, a divisive online commentator who has gained millions of views on her Lively videos, said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE, "Given the fact that I have not received any subpoena yet, I appreciate Blake's team leaking this to TMZ to alert me to it. And, of course, I have not the slightest idea what I am being subpoenaed for as I knew none of these parties when their respective lawsuits were filed. But stay tuned, and I'll let audiences know on my podcast."
Hilton and Signore did not immediately respond toPEOPLE's requests for comment. Reps for Lively and Baldoni separatelydeclined to comment.
Hilton (born Mario Lavandeira) is a longtime celebrity blogger who has been covering the actors' saga, and he was even featured in the documentary about the case, In Dispute: Lively vs. Baldoni. He has previously been legally represented by Baldoni's lawyer, Bryan Freedman.
Signore makes videos about celebrity trials on a YouTube channel, and in one video shared an "exclusive" statement from Freedman before major news outlets published the same comment later.
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Baldoni's $400 million countersuit against Lively and Reynolds, which alleged extortion and defamation, was dismissed by Judge Lewis J. Liman in June, and Baldoni's team ultimately declined to amend and move forward with their claims.
Lively, 37, has also issued a subpoena to music exec Scooter Braun and his company. (Braun stepped down from his CEO role at HYBE on July 1.) Baldoni, 41, at one point subpoenaed Taylor Swift, a close friend of Lively's, though that has since been withdrawn. Still, the judge blocked Lively's motion for a protective order to prevent her texts with the pop star from getting into Baldoni's team's hands. It was previously indicated that Baldoni's team also considered subpoenaing another of Lively's friends, actor Hugh Jackman.
Baldoni's legal team has previously given shoutouts to content creators making videos about the legal battle. In a June 10 message after their lawsuit was dismissed, Freedman said, "We are grateful for the organic show of support from the public and for the dedication of the internet sleuth community who continue to cover the case with discernment and integrity."
In her complaint, Lively's lawyers alleged that Baldoni and his publicists orchestrated an online smear campaign to tarnish her image, writing: "the Wayfarer team seeded social media content with content creators, on online chat sites like Reddit, and into publications with small audiences and lax editorial standards; the team would then 'amplify' that content by sharing them with publications ... [that] have larger audiences and greater reach, which significantly increased the negative sentiment toward Ms. Lively."
Baldoni's lawyers, however, say any ill will directed at Lively was her own doing, and bad press that happened around the It Ends With Us release in August 2024 was an organic response that needed no fueling.
Freedman said on a podcast in March, "The publicists are saying, 'We had nothing to do with this whatsoever.' And there's other people that say the same thing and that organically this press was coming out. Justin wasn't happy about anything that would be negative about Blake, about the movie, about him or anything. This wasn't just about him or just about her. This was about the project they were working on together."
The trial is currently scheduled to be held in March 2026.
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