Originally appeared on E! Online
Justin Baldoni‘s premiere night allegedly ended in the basement.
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After the “It Ends With Us” star and director accused his castmate Blake Lively of sidelining him at the movie’s New York premiere due to their ongoing feud, Baldoni shared photos of him “being held” with his family in the lower-level room as part of the countersuit that he filed against the “Gossip Girl” alum seeking $400 million.
In one image cited in the documents, obtained by E! News Jan. 16, Baldoni, his wife Emily Baldoni and various other family members can be seen sitting around a red table in a windowless space. In the middle of them, overflowing boxes of popcorn are lined up, as well as bottles of Coke and water.
In another photo, Baldoni — who donned the same outfit he wore in photos from the Aug. 6 premiere’s red carpet— posed against pallets containing stacks of unopened packs of Dasani water bottles and Coke bottles alongside seven of his female friends and relatives.
According to Baldoni’s lawsuit — which arrived nearly a month after Lively accused him of sexually harassing her on the set of the 2024 movie in her own lawsuit — Lively used “threats and extortion” to “relegate” her colleagues to “sit out their own premiere” in the basement.
PHOTOS Stars React to Blake Lively’s Complaint Against Justin Baldoni
The “Jane the Virgin” alum said he and his guests were “ushered” inside and were subsequently “held” in the room where the photos were taken to “avoid even a chance of interaction with Lively or her guests” once she arrived on the red carpet.
“They were confined to a makeshift holding area surrounded by concession stand stock, with only fold-out tables and chairs arranged in a square,” Baldoni’s suit said. “Surrounded by close friends, family, soda bottles, and a lot of love, the irony of being held in a basement on what was arguably one of the most important nights of Baldoni’s career thus far, was not lost on anyone.”
And the filing — which denies Lively’s sexual harassment allegations — also accused the “A Simple Favor” actress of excluding him from the “official celebrity after-party” for the film, despite it being an event “ultimately paid for by Sony and Wayfarer,” the latter of which is Baldoni’s production company.
“As a result, Baldoni had to quickly organize and fund a separate after-party for himself and the Wayfarer team,” his lawsuit alleged, “forcing the company to cover the costs for two events — one for Lively and everyone else, and one for Baldoni and Wayfarer’s own friends, family, crew, and team.”
In response to Baldoni’s filing, Lively’s legal team described his lawsuit as “meritless.”
“They are trying to shift the narrative to Ms. Lively by falsely claiming that she seized creative control and alienated the cast from Mr. Baldoni,” read a Jan. 16 statement to E! News from her lawyers. “The evidence will show that the cast and others had their own negative experiences with Mr. Baldoni and Wayfarer.”
E! News reached out to a rep for Sony for comment on Baldoni’s lawsuit but has not heard back.
Baldoni, 40, had previously described his emotions over allegedly spending most of the “It Ends With Us” premiere in the basement in a purported voice message from him played during his lawyer Bryan Freedman‘s appearance on “The Megyn Kelly Show” earlier this month.
“We were down there together — my friends and family, the people that love me the most,” the actor said in the undated clip, “and we start laughing because of the ridiculousness of this whole thing.”
Following the audio message’s release, a rep for Lively accused Baldoni’s team of leveling “more attacks” against their client.
“A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied,” the rep said in a Jan. 6 statement to E! News. “Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender, and suggest that the offender is actually the victim.”
