“Another day, another drama, drama…”
But also…
“I swear I don’t love the drama, it loves me”
I don’t believe that lyric from Taylor Swift all of the time, but I do believe in the case between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. As I’ve been saying, Taylor has become the main character in this legal dispute and she is once again the headliner in the latest development.
Last week it was all about how Taylor was subpoenaed by Justin’s team, with his lawyer claiming that he got a tip from a source who told him that Blake had extorted Taylor, threatening that if she didn’t support her publicly, she’d release ten years of text messages. Blake’s lawyers called bullsh-t and asked the judge presiding over the case in New York to strike the two letters, including a sworn affidavit, from Justin’s lawyer, and this was granted, with the judge sharply criticising Justin’s side and their antics.
News broke yesterday that Justin’s lawyers will not be pushing ahead with the Taylor subpoena. And now both Blake and Justin’s teams are trying to spin this to their advantage.
“We are pleased that Justin Baldoni and the Wayfarer Parties have withdrawn their harassing subpoenas to Taylor Swift and her law firm,” a Lively spokesperson told Deadline this morning. “We supported the efforts of Taylor’s team to quash these inappropriate subpoenas directed to her counsel and we will continue to stand up for any third party who is unjustly harassed or threatened in the process,” they also noted.
“The Baldoni and Wayfarer team have tried to put Taylor Swift, a woman who has been an inspiration for tens of millions across the globe, at the center of this case since day one,” the Lively spokesperson said of their client’s close close pal who has popped up in more than one filing or two since this all started with the Another Simple Favor actress’ CRD complaint in late 2024. “Exploiting Taylor Swift’s celebrity was the original plan in Melissa Nathan’s scenario planning document, and it continues to this day,” the statement adds, with a swipe at Baldoni’s crisis management PR chief. “Faced with having to justify themselves in federal court, they folded.”
But a source also tells Deadline that one of the reasons “the summons was dropped was because details that the Bryan Freedman-represented Baldoni and crew sought were provided”.
And of course Page Six is jumping in with their own insider who says that, “When information is voluntarily received, there is no need for subpoenas.”
This would imply that Taylor volunteered whatever it is that Justin’s team was asking for – in other words supposedly she cooperated with the Baldoni side, and turned over what they consider to be evidence that proves Blake was in the wrong which only fuels the speculation that the Baldoni side encouraged last week with their extortion claims: that Taylor is secretly Team Justin and sold out Blake.
As usual, then, where this case is concerned, this “win” belongs to whoever you believe, or whoever’s been doing a better job in the court of public opinion to make people believe they’re winning.
Also as usual, we’re centering Taylor. Because this news is getting way more play than another development in the case that was filed earlier this week. Which is that Blake’s lawyers, on the heels of the debacle last week about the extortion, filed a motion to have Justin Baldoni’s team sanctioned, basically asking the court to reprimand Baldoni’s side, including his lawyer, of using the lawsuit as a public relations stunt…which, evidently, is not as interesting to the public as TAYLOR SWIFT.
So now the subpoena that might have been a nothingburger is officially a nothingburger. Justin Baldoni’s side has gotten it out there that Blake may have extorted Taylor. And that Taylor may have willingly handed over information that Justin can use to bury Blake.
And, finally, as f-cking usual, we are not talking about sexual harassment.
