Justin Baldoni’s lawyers have claimed Taylor Swift is set to testify in Blake Lively’s ongoing lawsuit against the It Ends With Us director – something Lively’s side has now called into question.
The revelation came in a filing from Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, who told U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman that the singer ‘has agreed to appear for deposition’ but couldn’t do so before October 20 because of ‘long-standing professional obligations,’ as People reports.
But now Deadline has reported that a filing by Lively’s lawyers today claimed that the singer has not ‘agreed’ to the sit-down next month and Baldoni’s side has presented no ‘evidence’ to justify it.
Lively’s lawyer claimed its another move by Baldoni’s team ‘to fuel their relentless media strategy.’
‘Even if one were to take the Wayfarer Defendants’ representation at face value, they have not come close to establishing good cause for their requested relief,’ Lively’s lawyer wrote.
Swift’s 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, is due out October 3, which coincides with her tour schedule – one reason her testimony would fall outside the court’s original September 30 deadline for depositions.
To make that possible, Baldoni’s legal team is asking for a brief extension to accommodate her.
The case, Blake Lively v. Wayfarer Studios LLC, et al., stems from a lawsuit Lively filed last December accusing Baldoni – her co-star and director – as well as his company and representatives, of sexual harassment and retaliation.
After denying the damning allegations, Baldoni’s camp filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit, suing both Lively and her husband, Deadpool icon Ryan Reynolds, as well as publicist Leslie Sloane and her PR firm, Vision PR Inc.
Refuting that he caused Lively ‘severe emotional distress,’ Baldoni began seeking damages of $400million (£323m) in his countersuit following her attempt to ‘destroy’ his reputation and career’.
Lively and Reynolds’ lawyers then filed a notice saying they wished to seek to dismiss Baldoni’s suit, with their legal team labelling the lawsuit ‘baseless’.
All defendants deny the allegations and a trial date has been set for March 2026.
Swift’s involvement is tangential but highly publicised.
Justin’s lawyer (Bryan Freedman) alleged in a now-dismissed countersuit that Blake’s lawyer threatened to leak private messages between the actress and Taylor if the singer did not release a statement supporting her.
In his complaint, Baldoni also claimed that Taylor and Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds, 48, pressured him into accepting one of Lively’s rewrites for the film after he was summoned to Lively and Reynolds’s New York City apartment.
Mike Gottlieb, Blake’s lawyer, denied the claim, and Lewis J Liman, the judge in the case, granted his motion to strike the letter from the docket in May.
Court filings even included text messages in which Baldoni told Lively her revisions improved a scene, while she quipped back that Reynolds and Swift were her ‘dragons,’ likening herself to Khaleesi from Game of Thrones.
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Although Baldoni’s team subpoenaed Swift in May, her representatives slammed the move, emphasising that she had no role in casting, production, or editing, and didn’t even watch the movie until its release.
The subpoena was dropped, but a source close to Taylor has claimed that her friendship with Blake has ‘halted’, adding that the singer ‘wants no part in this drama,’ People reports.
Speculation has swirled among fans that a track from Swift’s upcoming album, Ruin the Friendship, could reference the rift, though Swift herself has said the record was finished during her European tour, before the legal drama escalated.
For now, whether Swift’s testimony happens depends on whether Judge Liman allows the schedule to shift.
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