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The public relations crisis management team hired by Justin Baldoni has entered into a dispute with Blake Lively.

The actors starred in a summer blockbuster It ends with us which Baldoni also directed and Lively co-produced, but rumors of tension between the two surfaced during the film’s press tour in August.

Why it matters

On Friday, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni and Jamey Heath, CEO of Wayfarer Studios, who co-produced It ends with us.

Lively accused the pair of misconduct on set, including sexual harassment, which was addressed in a joint meeting during production and resulted in a list of agreements between the parties.

“No further personal, physical touching or sexual comments by Mr. Baldoni or Mr. Heath that he should not tolerate.” [Lively] and/or any of its employees, as well as any female cast or crew without their express consent,” one listing agreement read.

In her lawsuit, Lively claimed that after that meeting, Baldoni hired a PR team to launch a “smear campaign” against her.

What to know

One of the companies Baldoni hired was TAG PR, also known as The Agency Group PR, and was named in Lively’s lawsuit. Now Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman has spoken out on behalf of the PR firm.

What people are saying

“TAG PR acted like any other crisis management firm when it was hired by a client facing threats from two extremely powerful people with unlimited resources,” Bryan Freedman said in a statement. My Weekly.

Freedman added: “The standard TAG PR script planning proved unnecessary as audiences found Lively’s own actions, interviews and marketing during the promotional tour distasteful and organically reacted to what the media themselves picked up.”

Freedman also alluded to alleged text messages between Baldoni and the PR guru that were part of a New York Times article about the lawsuit. The article claimed Lively’s legal team obtained the reports through a subpoena, but Freedman claimed they were leaked.

One of the alleged text messages allegedly shows the publicist talking about Baldoni, writing: “She wants to feel like her [Lively] may be buried.”

“It’s ironic, isn’t it New York Timesby their efforts to ‘uncover’ a malicious PR effort, it played right into Lively’s questionable PR tactics by publishing leaked personal text exchanges that lack critical context — the same tactics she accuses the firm of implementing,” Freedman said.

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