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Look what you made Taylor Swift do, Justin Baldoni.
On May 9, we learned that Swift has been subpoenaed as a witness in ongoing — and VERY ugly — legal battle between Blake Lively and Baldoni… which stems from a major conflict on their 2024 movie It Ends with Us.
The superstar has something to say about it, too.
“Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history,” a spokesperson for Swift said in response to the maneuver.
This rep added:
The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, ‘My Tears Ricochet.’
‘Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.”
Swift and Lively are very good friends. They have attended a number of Kansas City Chiefs games over the past two seasons.
Lively, meanwhile, sued Baldoni in December, accusing him of sexual harassment, “disturbing” and “unprofessional” behavior on set of the aforementioned film, along with a retaliatory smear campaign.
Baldoni has denied the allegations and, in January, filed a countersuit alleging defamation and extortion against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and their publicity team.
This is sort of where Swift comes in.
Swift is NOT named as a defendant in Baldoni’s complaint, nor mentioned by her full name anywhere in the documents.
However, the Grammy-winning artist is referred to numerous times as verbally supporting one of Lively’s rewrites for It Ends With Us during a meeting between Baldoni and Lively at her New York apartment.
The filing claims that Baldoni’s takeaway from the alleged interaction was, “Baldoni understood the subtext: he needed to comply with Lively’s direction for the script.”
Swift hasn’t said a word in public about her alleged role in this back-and-forth public relations disaster.
Lively is reportedly very sorry for getting her mixed up in it, though.
In an alleged text exchange following his interaction with Lively, Swift and Reynolds… Baldoni supposedly told the actress that her script changes were “so much more fun and interesting” and that he “would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor,” adding a playful emoji.
Lively allegedly responded by comparing herself to Khaleesi from Game of Thrones, calling her husband and Swift her “dragons” and later her “Dance Moms level stage moms.”
Lively and Baldoni’s dueling lawsuits are scheduled to go to trial in March.
And Swift may not be the final famous person to be dragged into this mess; Hugh Jackman could also be served with a subpoena.
“Anyone that had any knowledge of this situation will be subpoenaed, no matter of their celebrity status,” a People Magazine source said on Friday.
