Justin Baldoni Wasn’t Defamed When She Said Cast Hates Him

Blake Lively‘s publicist argued in a legal filing Thursday that it was not defamatory to tell a reporter that the entire cast of “It Ends With Us” hated director Justin Baldoni.

Leslie Sloane, who represents Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, is accused in Baldoni’s lawsuit of spreading the malicious falsehood that he was a sexual predator in order to deflect attention away from Lively’s behavior on set.

Baldoni’s suit quotes text messages between Sloane and a Daily Mail reporter on Aug. 8, in which the reporter sought comment about a “power struggle” between Lively and Baldoni, saying that Lively had been labeled “difficult” on set.

According to the messages, Sloane denied that the issue had anything to do with Lively, and warned the reporter not to trust Baldoni’s camp: “They are panicking as the whole cast hates him,” Sloane wrote.

In a motion to dismiss the suit, Sloane’s attorneys argued that saying the cast “hates” Baldoni was a statement of opinion, and therefore cannot be the basis of a defamation claim.

They also argued that the claim was true, and that Baldoni has admitted as much. In his complaint, Baldoni alleged that Lively had succeeded in getting the cast to “shun” him on social media by unfollowing his accounts.

The Daily Mail reported on the Lively-Baldoni feud on Aug. 9, alleging that Baldoni had been “borderline abusive” toward some women on set. Baldoni accuses Sloane of having “planted false and defamatory information about Baldoni to distract from Lively’s numerous missteps.”

In the motion to dismiss, Sloane’s lawyers argue that all she is accused of doing is responding to a story that had been planted by Baldoni’s team.

Baldoni’s suit also quotes a message from the Daily Mail reporter to a Baldoni publicist in December, in which the reporter states “now she’s saying Blake was sexually assaulted.” Baldoni’s team argues this is…