Hollywood actor-director Justin Baldoni faces the complications of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by ‘It Ends with Us’ co-star Blake Lively against him.
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In a fresh set of setbacks to follow for Justin Baldoni, following the sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit by Blake Lively, Liz Plank, who co-hosted the ‘Man Enough’ podcast with the former and Wayfarer Studios president Jamey Heath since 2021, announced to have resigned from the job.
Plank turned to her Instagram handle on Tuesday to break the news of her departure from the show. “I’m writing to you today to let you know that I have had my representatives inform Wayfarer that I will no longer be co-hosting The Man Enough podcast,” she wrote. “Thank you for trusting me with your hearts and stories, for holding space for mine, and for making this show what it was. I will miss you, the listeners, so much. I love what this community created together with every fibre of my being, and that’s because of you.”
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“I will have more to share soon as I continue to process everything that has happened,” she added and further vowed to continue her support for justice and accountability.
It is worth pointing out here that co-host Heath is also named accused in Lively’s lawsuit.
Additionally, Baldoni has also been rescinded of the women’s advocacy award he received only earlier this month.
In an official statement on the social site Instagram, the non-profit organization Vital Voices confirmed that they have taken back the Voices of Solidarity Award, given to the ‘Clouds’ director, for ‘advocating on behalf of women and girls’.
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“We learned through news reports about a lawsuit brought by Blake Lively against Mr. Baldoni, his publicists, and others that is disturbing and alleges abhorrent conduct,” read their statement. “The communications among Mr. Baldoni and his publicists included in the lawsuit — and the PR effort they indicate — are, alone, contrary to the values of Vital Voices and the spirit of the Award.”
“We have notified Mr. Baldoni that we have rescinded this award,” announced the team.
Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni
For the unversed, Lively filed a lawsuit against Baldoni earlier this week, accusing him of sexual harassment and a smear campaign.
Also Read: Support grows for Blake Lively over smear campaign claim
In her lawsuit, the ‘Gossip Girl’ alum shared the alleged chats of Baldoni with PR executive Jennifer Abel and crisis management expert Melissa Nathan, planning a smear campaign against Lively, with a reference to the one against Hailey Bieber. She also alleged that ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star attempted to tarnish her image after he called up a meeting in which she brought along her actor husband, Reynolds, to address ‘repeated sexual harassment and other disturbing behaviour’ by the director and a producer on the set of the Box Office hit.
However, Baldoni’s legal team has denied the allegations, terming them ‘categorically false’. The team claimed they hired a crisis manager because Lively had threatened to derail the film unless her demands were met.
