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Justin Baldoni Claims Blake Lively Used Her Friendship With Taylor Swift As Leverage While Filming

There’s more It Ends With Us drama that has to do with Taylor Swift’s involvement, I fear. Personally, I’m still recovering from that alleged text exchange where Blake Lively referred to Taylor as her “dragon.” Sigh. In a continued effort to get the public on his side, Justin Baldoni and his team have created a whole website, “thelawsuitinfo.com,” (sounds scammy AF) full of documents related to his lawsuit against Blake. The “Timeline of Relevant Events” PDF is literally 168 pages long, and among those docs, there’s new info about the use of Taylor’s “My Tears Ricochet” in the film. Justin’s claiming that Blake used the song and her connection to Taylor as leverage.

Justin has already accused the Gossip Girl alum of trying to take control of the film and using her pop star bestie to intimidate him into making script changes. Of course, this all came after Blake accused him of sexual harassment and a subsequent smear campaign.

So, why is Justin Baldoni now accusing Blake Lively of threatening him about a Taylor Swift song? Here’s what we know.

Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, And Taylor Swift Drama Explained

Justin Baldoni Accuses Blake Lively Of Making A Threat About A Taylor Swift Song

You may recall that Taylor’s folklore track, “My Tears Ricochet,” is used in the It Ends With Us trailer and in the movie, it plays during a montage of Lily Bloom’s life after she moves out. Taylor songs are not an easy or cheap get for TV and movies, but of course, Blake and Taylor are longtime BFFs, which helped in this case.

According to court docs filed on January 31 and published on Justin’s website, he’s accusing Blake of using her Taylor friendship as leverage throughout the filmmaking process. He claimed that Blake even made a “veiled threat” through a studio executive “implying she might ‘change her mind’ about reaching out to Taylor Swift to secure the use of ‘My Tears Ricochet’ for the trailer if her demands are not met.”

Per the docs, those alleged demands included removing Justin’s “film by” credit from the movie posters and Blake getting more time in the editing room and overseeing the final cut of the movie with her own editor. In Justin’s filing, his team writes, “This maneuver felt less like a professional request and more like extortion, holding the film’s marketing efforts hostage to gain creative control.”

Taylor has yet to publicly comment on Blake’s legal battle with Justin, but it seems like she’s Team Blake. After all, the blondies have been close for over a decade now. A recent report that Taylor was “taking a step back” from the friendship was swiftly shut down (probably by the one and only Miss Tree Paine).

I remain 100 percent convinced that Blake’s gonna star in a Reputation (TV) vault track music video.

Ilana Frost
Ilana Frost is an entertainment writer at Betches. As a teenage girl in her twenties, she spends her time stanning Olivia Rodrigo, baking cakes for award shows, and refusing to ever leave her Reputation era.