Blake Lively subpoenas two major media stars after Justin Baldoni drops Taylor Swift order
Blake Lively has subpoenaed two high-profile media personalities in her quest to prove co-star Justin Baldoni’s alleged smear campaign.
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Blake Lively has dragged two prominent media figures into her contentious legal war with Justin Baldoni.
The It Ends With Us star subpoenaed right-wing activist and commentator Candace Owens and infamous blogger Perez Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr.
TMZ broke the news on Tuesday that Lively, 37, believed the media stars had colluded with Baldoni, 41, and used their “sizeable digital platforms” to launch a smear campaign against her.
Owens, for her part, said she learned of the legal filing just moments before the outlet’s story went live and had not been personally served with the court documents at the time of publication.
“This is a hit,” she said on her “Candace Owens” YouTube channel Tuesday.
“They don’t want you to respond to any facts, because they aren’t interested in facts. This is a psychological game that they are playing with the masses.”
Owens, 36, also emphatically denied receiving any payment from Baldoni or his team in exchange for her opinions, saying that she was “just so offended” by the implication.
“It might just be the case that I am beholden to no one, and I say whatever I am thinking at any moment of the day. That’s the problem with me. I don’t dance for money,” she added.
Hilton, 47, laughed off the subpoena order in his own video posted on social media Tuesday.
The blogger claimed that he, too, learned of the legal filing via TMZ’s “surprising” story.
“This is the first time I am hearing of it,” he said.
“I have not been served with anything yet, and I also have not communicated with my lawyer, Bryan Freedman, about this, who also represents Baldoni and has not given me any information or influenced me in any way whatsoever.”
Page Six has reached to Baldoni’s reps for comment on the alleged subpoenas but did not hear back.
The latest twist in Lively’s legal strategy comes weeks after she fought to quash a subpoena Baldoni wanted to issue her former close pal Taylor Swift.
The Wayfarer Studios co-founder initially wanted to subpoena the pop superstar, 35, because he claimed Lively used her famous friend’s influence to take over the direction of “It Ends With Us.”
“The message could not have been clearer. Baldoni was not just dealing with Lively. He was also facing Lively’s ‘dragons,’ two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world, who were not afraid to make things very difficult for him,” Freedman previously argued in his client’s countersuit.
However, in May, Baldoni shockingly dropped his probe into Swift, with a source telling Page Six exclusively at the time, “When information is voluntarily received, there is no need for subpoenas.”
It was then revealed that the Grammy winner’s father, Scott Swift, had allegedly willingly leaked information to Baldoni’s camp, including alleged threats Lively made to his daughter to release private texts, that could potentially help the director’s legal case.
– This story originally appeared on The New York Post’s Page Six.
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Originally published as Blake Lively subpoenas two major media stars after Justin Baldoni drops Taylor Swift order
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