Justin Baldoni’s PR team is scrambling to keep its controversial past clients out of the Blake Lively trial, fearing a jury will connect the dots
Murky waters run deep too.
The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is heating up as both sides prepare for a high-stakes trial scheduled to begin on May 18 in federal court in New York City. With less than six weeks left before the proceedings kick off, the docket is filling up with 11th hour motions, witness lists, and legal maneuvering that makes it clear this case is about far more than just what happened on the set of It Ends With Us.
At the center of the latest dispute is the crisis PR team hired by Baldoni and his Wayfarer Studios brass. According to Deadline, led by publicist Melissa Nathan, this team is now actively fighting to keep the jury from hearing about their past work with other high-profile clients.
They are essentially asking the court to treat their professional history as a non-entity, arguing that any mention of their involvement with figures like Johnny Depp, Rebel Wilson, or the Alexander brothers is entirely irrelevant to the current retaliation, breach of contract, and aiding and abetting claims Lively has leveled against them.
It is easy to see why this is a point of contention
Lively’s legal team is pushing to introduce evidence of the PR strategies Nathan has used in the past to convince jurors that a smear campaign is the firm’s stock in trade. In an April 10 pretrial filing, Nathan and her team, which includes Jennifer Abel and Jed Wallace, argued that referencing their work for figures like rappers Drake and Travis Scott, professional wrestler Logan Paul, or various politicians is prejudicial.
They insist that Lively has not alleged that the specific mechanisms used for those other clients were utilized against her. This is a classic case of a legal team trying to control the narrative before a single witness takes the stand. Nathan and her agency, The Agency Group PR, have long marketed themselves as experts who can handle the messiest situations in Hollywood.
Their website even claims they redefine the rules of reputation management. However, for Lively, the issue is that these reputations were built on what she alleges is a coordinated, retaliatory social manipulation campaign designed to stop her from speaking out against Baldoni.
The fallout from these allegations has been intense. Lively’s lawsuit claims that she was pillared online by an army of posts that ranged from critical to caustic after she attempted to go public regarding her experiences. While Nathan and Abel have consistently denied that any smear campaign was implemented, the court filings tell a different story.
The lawsuit includes alleged text messages between the defendants that suggest a plan to target the actress. Abel even addressed the controversy in December 2024, claiming that while they were prepared for a social combat plan, they did not have to implement anything because the internet was doing the work for them.
The tension is amplified by the fact that this case has already seen significant movement
While the sexual harassment claims in the suit were tossed out on jurisdictional and contract grounds, the remaining retaliation claims are keeping the pressure high. Settlement hopes have been dashed, and both sides are now playing hardball. Lively’s team has submitted a jury verdict form that clearly points to where they believe the weak link lies, specifically asking if The Agency Group PR LLC is liable for aiding and abetting retaliation.
The background of this team is extensive. Melissa Nathan is well-known in the industry for her work on high-profile crises. She was involved during the 2022 defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, a case that saw a massive surge of online activity. In fact, Heard even spoke up in support of Lively when she claimed that Nathan’s PR team had attempted a smear campaign against her
Similarly, the agency has been associated with other celebrities facing significant public scrutiny, including rappers involved in high-profile feuds and figures entangled in major civil litigation, as per HuffPost. For someone like Baldoni, who hired Nathan in August 2024 as negative rumors about his behavior began to circulate, this expertise was clearly the goal.
As the trial date approaches, the courtroom will likely become a battleground for information. Lively’s team has filed a lengthy list of motions in limine, aiming to exclude everything from testimony about the character Nicepool from Deadpool & Wolverine to internal Sony communications and the net worth of both Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
It is a massive amount of legal ground to cover, and it shows just how much both sides are trying to shape the jury’s perception. Whether it is the mention of smear websites or the specific PR tactics used for past clients, the strategy is clear: this trial will be won or lost on who can successfully define the nature of the online reaction. With the trial set for May 18, the game is truly afoot for all parties involved.
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