Getty ImagesA women’s solidarity honour that was recently awarded to Justin Baldoni has been rescinded after the actor was accused by his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively of sexual harassment and mounting a campaign to “destroy” her reputation.
Baldoni was honoured by Vital Voices, a global non-profit organisation that focuses on empowering women, with the award earlier this month.
The organisation announced Monday evening that it rescinded the award after the legal complaint filed by Lively alleged “abhorrent conduct” by the actor, his studio and a crisis public relations team that it said was “contrary to the values” held by the non-profit.
Baldoni’s legal team have told the BBC that the allegations are “categorically false” and said they hired a crisis manager because Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.
In the romantic drama, Lively plays a woman who finds herself in a relationship with a charming but abusive boyfriend, played by Baldoni.
The Voices of Solidarity Award was given to Baldoni on 9 December during an awards ceremony in New York, Vital Voices said in a statement. The award was presented by comedian Hasan Minhaj and celebrates “remarkable men who have shown courage and compassion in advocating on behalf of women and girls”.
He posted about the award on his Instagram page, saying he was “deeply honoured and humbled” and noting the continued work to needed to be done to help future generations of men.
“My hope is that we can teach our boys, while they are still young, that vulnerability is strength, sensitivity is a super power, and empathy makes them powerful,” he says in the post.
In a statement on Monday, Vital Voices explained it had revoked the award and notified Baldoni of the decision.
Less than two weeks after the awards ceremony, Lively, who is best known for her role on the TV show Gossip Girl, filed a legal complaint accusing Baldoni and his team of attacking her public image. She says in the complaint the attacks followed a meeting to address “repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour” by Baldoni and a producer on the movie.
According to the filing to the California Civil Rights Department, a list of 30 demands relating to the pair’s alleged misconduct was made at the meeting to ensure they could continue to produce the film. The list included requests such as no more mention of Baldoni’s “pornography addiction”, no descriptions of genitalia and no addition of intimate scenes that weren’t approved by her when she read the script.
Lively also accused Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios of leading a “multi-tiered plan” to wreck her reputation in the media and online, including hiring a crisis manager who led a “sophisticated, coordinated, and well-financed retaliation plan” against her and used a “digital army” to post social media content that seemed authentic.
Responding to the legal complaint, Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement on Saturday that the accusations were “categorically false”.
Freedman accused Lively of making numerous demands and threats, including “threatening to not show up to set, threatening to not promote the film”, which would end up “ultimately leading to its demise during release, if her demands were not met”.
He alleged that Lively’s claims were “intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media”.
