Jenny Slate Does Not Have Kind Words About Justin Baldoni
The whole It Ends with Us Blake Lively–Justin Baldoni saga is the kind of Hollywood drama that makes you wonder if anyone involved ever heard of HR departments before bringing together a crew of hundreds to work on a feature-length project.
And unfortunately, the more we learn about what went down during filming, that question becomes less rhetorical and more like a distress signal for how showbiz continues to operate to this day.
According to newly unsealed court documents (per Variety), Lively’s co-star Jenny Slate had some choice words about Baldoni, and newly sealed court documents reveal text messages from the actress that describe her experience working with him as everything from “gross and disturbing” to encounters with the director that inspired her to break out vocabulary like “biggest clown” and “most intense narcissist.”
The texts, dating back to May and June 2023 during production, show Slate venting to her team about Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios CEO Jamey Heath. “I don’t want to do anything with Justin, I don’t want to talk about him, like … nothing,” she wrote when discussing promotional plans. “And the same goes for Jamey, who is truly unprofessional.”
Perhaps most scathing was Slate’s assessment of Baldoni’s public persona versus private behavior. Referencing his 2018 TED Talk about empowering women and redefining masculinity, she didn’t hold back. “Justin is truly a false ally and I’m unwilling to do anything that promotes the image that he’s crafting as a male feminist. Honestly, I have no words to describe what a fraud he is.”
Jenny Slate calls him the “biggest clown”
Slate then went on to add that she’s never “encountered anything like this dude. He’s the biggest clown and the most intense narcissist.”
There’s also Isabela Ferrer’s testimony. Ferrer portrayed a younger version of Lively’s main protagonist, and she noted that Baldoni made an inappropriate comment when directing the intimate scene in which she loses her virginity. “I’m not supposed to say this, but that was hot,” Baldoni allegedly remarked, which Ferrer understandably found to be improper.
These revelations come from Slate’s September 2025 deposition transcript, unsealed on January 20 as part of Blake Lively’s ongoing legal battle against Baldoni. During that deposition, Slate testified under oath about allegedly inappropriate comments Baldoni made on set, including telling her she looked “hot” and “sexy” in her costume—comments she said were witnessed by Lively, who immediately pushed back.
Baldoni’s attorney has called Lively’s sexual harassment and retaliation allegations “completely wrong,” while Baldoni previously filed a $400 million countersuit that was later dismissed.
What’s surprising is that despite the fact that multiple women from the cast have come forward and their text messages all corroborate the same story, a vocal contingent online is rushing to Baldoni’s defense, and their first natural instinct is still “but what if they’re all lying?”
There are still people on Baldoni’s side
It’s the kind of logic that only thrives in comment sections, as apparent by responses like “Here come the hit pieces” and “They want to finish him but God won’t let them.” Oh, that’s just rich. Yeah, let’s bring God into this messy feud and decide where he stands while we’re at it.
Taylor Swift’s name is also popping up following the release of the court documents, but it involves a lot of back and forth that doesn’t necessarily incriminate her as the comments section would have you believe.
The trial begins May 18, which sounds far away for a gift that keeps on giving, whether we asked for it or not. At this point, It Ends with Us sounds less like the movie’s title and more a wishful statement about when this legal drama might finally wrap up.
(featured image: Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
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