Blake Lively calls out Justin Baldoni for making lawsuit ‘public spectacle'

Blake Lively just slammed Justin Baldoni’s move to turn their legal battle into a “public spectacle.”

The Gossip Girl star, who sued her It Ends With Us co-star and director for sexual harassment and for creating a toxic workspace, has now filed a motion for a protective order so that she sits at a redacted location, where everyone in attendance would be identified in advance for her July 17 deposition.

This comes after Justin’s attorney Bryan Freedman told People magazine in May, “Hold the deposition at MSG, sell tickets or stream it, and donate every dollar to organizations helping victims of domestic abuse."

In response, Blake’s team responded, “Ms. Lively is looking forward to her deposition next week, and it should follow the same rules as every other witness in this case.”

“Justin Baldoni’s lawyer has tried to make this matter a public spectacle at every turn, even proposing to sell tickets to a televised deposition at Madison Square Garden. This is a serious matter of sexual harassment and retaliation and it deserves to be treated as such,” they concluded.

Now, in the new filing, it is revealed that the A Simple Favor actress has asked the judge to stop the Jane The Virgin talent’s team from selecting the place of deposition.

"[Baldoni's team have] not denied that their intent is to manufacture a harassing publicity stunt by requiring Ms. Lively to parade through paparazzi, or by inviting unknown attendees to the deposition, including members of the media or social media influencers, or any other number of abusive tactics,” her lawyers wrote.

“Since virtually the inception of this litigation, Defendants have used even the prospect of Ms. Lively’s deposition to generate press interest,” they further claimed.

“The high-profile nature of this litigation, and the nature of Ms. Lively's retaliation claims, demonstrates a substantial risk of the deposition turning into a publicity event and potentially attracting interested individuals who could pose security risks,” Blake Lively’s team concluded.