Justin Baldoni is DROPPED from WME agency amid Blake Lively’s sexual harassment lawsuit

Justin Baldoni has been fired from entertainment agency WME after Blake Lively filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the actor.

The director, 40, was dropped by WME on Saturday, Term reported — while the Gossip Girl alum, 37, is still represented by the same company.

It comes as the actress claims in documents obtained by TMZ that Justin created a toxic work environment, showed her nude photos and videos of women, and talked to her about his alleged past porn addiction.

Baldoni’s legal team has since denied the allegations, claiming the lawsuit was an attempt to save her reputation, which suffered under the press for their film It Ends With Us.

The two stars both starred in the 2016 adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel, but rumors of a rift between the pair arose when they were not pictured on the red carpet or doing interviews together.

The climax of the drama occurred in August, shortly before the film’s theatrical release.

In addition to Blake and Justin keeping their distance from each other, there were also rumors that they had creative differences on set.

He was also unfollowed by the actress on social media, as well as other cast members and Hoover.

Lively was also wary of Baldoni even before filming, according to her legal complaint, claiming they clashed over him when he tried to add “gratuitous” nudity and sex scenes to the film.

Relations deteriorated further during filming and culminated in an HR meeting where Baldoni and his Wayfarer studio agreed to several conditions before Lively would consider resuming filming after the writers’ strike, the documents say.

Drama further ensued when resurfaced interviews in which the actress was “rude” to reporters went viral on social media.

Bombshell text messages have since come to light during the trial to show how his crisis management team allegedly launched a smear campaign against her.

Some time before August 2, Baldoni hired crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, whose previous clients included Jonny Depp, as part of his PR team, which also included publicist Jennifer Abel.

Many of the messages in the lawsuit, obtained through a subpoena, are between the women, including one in which Nathan states that she can “bury anyone.”

The message was sent in response to Abels’ text message stating that Baldoni “wants to feel like her.” [Lively] can be buried.’

“Of course – but you know that if we send documents, we can’t send the work we want or could do, because that could get us into a lot of trouble,” Nathan replies, adding: “We can’t write that we will. destroy her.’

She followed up the message with another message, which read: “Imagine a document that says everything he wants ends up in the wrong hands. You know we can bury everyone, but I can’t write that to him. I’ll be really tough.’

Another back and forth on August 2 appears to show Nathan joking about killing Lively.

‘I also sent you a present. Don’t worry, I didn’t kill her and send her to your house in a box. It’s a congratulatory gift,” reads Nathan’s message, to which Abel responds: “D***IT.”

Later that same day, Abel wrote that she’s having “reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week about how horrible Blake is to work with.”

Meanwhile, Baldoni appears to have suggested that it would be helpful if they could organize a targeted social media campaign.

He sent a message with a screenshot of a Twitter thread about bullying allegations against Hailey Bieber with the caption, “This is what we need.”

Baldoni wanted to market the film by highlighting the domestic violence at the heart of the story, while Lively felt it should be more hopeful and uplifting.

Lively was subsequently criticized for the “tone deaf” way she promoted the film after failing to mention domestic violence in several interviews.

It is unclear whether this response was contrived, but Baldoni’s posts seem to show that he was at least willing to capitalize on the negative press.

‘What is the TikTok strategy?’ Baldoni writes in one message. “I would like you to ONLY post to me about domestic violence and clips and why this film is so important.”

In August, It Ends With Us was released in theaters and despite the drama, the film was a box office success, grossing approximately $351 million on a $25 million budget.

At the time, Blake was photographed arriving at Taylor’s mansion in late August after backlash for plugging her alcohol brand Betty Booze during promotion of the film – which focuses on domestic violence.

She received further backlash after awkward press interviews for the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel.

Previous interviews also returned, such as one from 2016 when a reporter congratulated Blake – who was pregnant at the time – on her baby bump.

Lively shared the same comment with the reporter, who was not pregnant and unable to have children of her own.

In August, a source said People regarding Baldoni: ‘Everything is not as it seems. There is much more to this story. The leads and Colleen Hoover want nothing to do with him.”

The insider added that Lively “wants to direct the next movie, sideline him and secure Colleen’s rights.”

In the lawsuit, Blake also alleged that Baldoni asked inappropriate questions about her weight, comments about her late father and sexual comments about the cast and crew.

The situation became so unworkable that she and husband Ryan Reynolds demanded crisis meetings during filming to put a stop to the behavior, the lawsuit said.

Lively also requested, “No more sex scenes, oral sex or climaxes on camera by BL [Blake Lively] outside the scope of the script approved by BL at the signing of the project,” the documents say.

The demands were reportedly accepted by the studio, but the film’s release was still hampered by a dispute between Lively and Baldoni over how to market the film, the lawsuit said.

Lively claims Baldoni’s team then waged a “social manipulation” campaign to damage her reputation.

The lawsuit includes text messages from the director’s publicist to the studio, in which Baldoni allegedly says “wants to feel like [Lively] can be buried, and ‘We cannot write that we will destroy her.’

Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman responded to the lawsuit as “false, scandalous and deliberately lascivious with the intent to publicly injure.”

He emphasized that the legal action is an attempt by Lively to “repair her negative reputation” after rumors spread of diva-like behavior on set.

This included “threatening not to show up on set, threatening not to promote the film, which ultimately led to its demise during its release,” according to Freedman.

The romantic drama follows Lily Bloom, played by Blake Lively, as she becomes involved in an abusive relationship with Justin Baldoni’s Ryle Kincaid.

A perceived point of contention was how to market the film, with Lively reportedly wanting to make the story more optimistic in contrast to Baldoni, who felt the film should focus more on the abuse aspect.

Insiders revealed the worrying truth about the tensions, telling DailyMail.com that Blake and Justin argued about his ‘dismissive’ attitude towards her ‘input’ while they were filming scenes involving abuse.

Fans have since responded to the actress’ sexual harassment lawsuit, with some siding with Lively and others coming to Baldoni’s defense.