Getty ImagesJustin Baldoni’s recent Women’s Solidarity Award has been withdrawn after the actor was accused by his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively of sexual harassment and a campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
Baldoni was honored by Vital Voices, a global non-profit organization focused on the empowerment of women, with the award earlier this month.
The organization announced Monday evening that it was withdrawing the award after a lawsuit filed by Lively alleging “disgusting behavior” by the actress, her studio and public relations team that it says is “contrary to the ethics” of the nonprofit organization. .
Baldoni’s legal team told the BBC the allegations were “absolutely false” and said they had hired a crisis manager because Lively had threatened to scrap the film unless her demands were met.
In this romantic drama, Lively plays a woman who finds herself in love with a lovely but abusive boyfriend, played by Baldoni.
I Voices of Solidarity Award it was presented to Baldoni on December 9 during an awards ceremony in New York, Vital Voices said in a statement. The award was given to comedian Hasan Minhaj and celebrates “amazing men who have shown courage and compassion in speaking out on behalf of women and girls”.
He wrote about the medal in his Instagram pagesaying he was “deeply honored and humbled” and noting the ongoing work to be done to help future generations.
“My hope is that we can teach our boys, when they are young, that vulnerability is powerful, sensitivity is great power, empathy makes them strong,” he said in the post.
In a statement on Monday, Vital Voices explained that it had revoked the award and informed Baldoni of the decision.
Less than two weeks after the awards ceremony, Lively, who is best known for her role on the TV show Gossip Girl, put legal complaint accusing Baldoni and his team of attacking his public image. He claims in the complaint that the attack followed a meeting to discuss “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behavior” by Baldoni and the film’s producer.
According to a report made to the California Department of Human Rights, a list of 30 demands related to the alleged misconduct of the two was made at the meeting to ensure that they could continue producing the film. The list included requests such as no mention of Baldoni’s “pornography addiction”, no descriptions of personal genitalia and no addition of intimate scenes that he did not approve of when reading the script.
Lively also accused Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of leading a “multi-tiered scheme” to destroy her reputation in the media and online, including hiring a troublemaker who led a “complex, organized, and well-financed revenge scheme” against her and used it. “digital army” posting social media content that appears to be authentic.
In response to the legal complaint, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement on Saturday that the allegations were “blatantly false”.
Freedman accused Lively of making a number of demands and threats, including “threats that she will no longer be there, threats that she will not promote the film”, which will ultimately “lead to its demise at the time of release, if her demands are not met”.
He pointed out that Lively’s comments were “intentionally negative with the intention of hurting the public and re-telling the media narrative”.
