Johnny Depp’s Lawyer Reacts to Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni Firestorm

Blake Lively and Justin baldon's onset. partnership has turned into a Hollywood. legal nightmare from harassment. allegations to a bitter defamation War. the drama behind it ends with us is more. than just a movie plot and a lot of. people are making comparisons between. this case and the infamous battle. between Johnny Depp and Amber herd tell. you what Johnny Depp's lawyer Ben Chu is. going to join us right now to talk about. it welcome to sidebar presented by law. and crime I'm Jesse Weber. [Music].

well in the escalating legal Saga that. has captivated Hollywood and maybe the. whole nation the once promising. partnership between Blake Lively and. Justin baldon has turned into a bitter. legal battle the two co-starred they. collaborated together on the highly. anticipated movie it ends with us based. on Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel. which hit theaters last summer however. behind the scenes tensions between. Lively and baldoni quickly escalated. leading to accusations of a smear. campaign public Fallout and on going.

lawsuit and it all began when Lively. filed a complaint against baloni that. later matured into a lawsuit alleging. that he sexually harassed her then. orchestrated a smear campaign against. her when she brought her allegations to. his attention and baldoni then filed a. counter suit alleging Lively along with. her husband Ryan Reynolds and her. publicist Leslie Sloan that they all. defamed him and he also accused them of. civil extortion well yesterday Lively. and baldon's legal battle escalated in. court where their attorneys met for the. first hearing In This Very high-profile.

legal dispute and this trial date has. already been set for March 2026 so to. break all this down I want to bring on a. special guest we are joined by celebrity. attorney litigator who famously. represented Johnny Depp in his. high-profile trial watched by the entire. world Ben Chu Ben thank you so much for. coming on it is great seeing you now Ben. we haven't talked about this before and. the first question I had is and we're. already seeing this online there have. been a lot of comparisons between this.

case and the Johnny Depp Amber herd. legal Saga that infolded in 2022 there. is a big difference here practically we. won't have cameras in the courtroom uh. for the proceedings and potentially an. upcoming trial for lively baldoni this. federal case but why are we seeing the. comparisons why are people making the. comparisons and do you think those. comparisons ring true Jesse thank you. for having me it's great to be here and. to see you again I think there are some. comparisons you have on both sides you.

have prominent actors uh which you had. also in the Depp case I think the stakes. are a little bit different in this case. in in Johnny's case he was suing for. defamation he was really suing to get. his reputation back it was more of an. existential issue for him a challenge. that we had and I think the other side. had but I think they really have it in. this case is to convince a jury of lay. people why they should care about a. dispute between two very powerful.

successful attractive actors and I think. that's a challenge irrespective of the. serious nature of the allegations that's. very true and look the allegations that. were leveled in Dey herd were very very. different than what we're talking about. here hey everybody this is a law crime. legal alert did you know that children. are being diagnosed with serious. conditions like type 2 diabetes and. non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and. the research is potentially linking. Ultra processed foods to all this yeah.

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baldon's team and maybe more. specifically as attorney Brian fredman. from making public comments about the. case and we're learning that this hasn't. necessarily been granted the judge. basically told the parties to follow the. rules here there was initially it was an. idea of let's come up with a protective. order by March 11th but it seems what. the judge has said is more specifically. be careful of the outof Court statements. that you make because you don't want to. materially Prejudice a case you don't. want to taint a jury what does that mean. for these attorneys what does that mean. for Brian Freedman will he not do more.

interviews will he not do podcasts. what's the line between speaking. publicly about the case and. regurgitating what your claims are and. what your defenses are versus crossing. the line Jesse it's such a great. question so let's unpack it because. they're different issues putting aside. um whether there's a protective or gag. order in place as you well know you. always want to be careful as an attorney. to say strident things or to to go too. far because even if there's no no gag.

order or protective order in effect. judges tend not to like to see attorneys. mouthing off or becoming strident that. there's only one star in a courtroom and. that's the judge then you have the issue. of whether there is a gag order in my. experience I've been on both sides of. this issue judges are loath to impose. protective orders or gag orders because. the very nature of Court proceedings is. that they are open to the public and any. restriction on speech is anathema I had. one case which I thought had a very.

compelling case for a gag order and the. court said No at least not now not until. we get closer to trial now as you know. once you get within the proximity of. trial once the the jury summonses are. going out judges tend to be more. receptive because of what you said a. moment ago which is the danger of. tainting the jury pool so I think as we. get closer to the trial date I think the. Judge might be more receptive to. granting some form of gag order but when. you're out several months from trial I.

think most judges tend to be leery of. protective orders now there is one. protection and this is the third bucket. I guess in response to your question and. that is lawyers always have to be. careful and they sometimes forget and. their Zeal to represent their clients or. to promote themselves they come up with. some kind of dramatic quote and. attorneys need to be careful that even. in the absence of a gag order it might. upset the judge or it could even subject. them to defamation liability that they.

can say almost anything they want to in. court but once you step outside of Court. you can be sued for defamation just like. anybody else and that can also get your. client sued it can also get you. conflicted yeah it's a good point it's a. good point um and I know there's been. talk about the litigation privilege and. you should be able to say what you need. to say um I did think it was interesting. um the judge said that he would. accelerate this trial date currently. scheduled for March of 2026 if they. violate the rules if they're you know.

going past and saying things they. shouldn't say can a judge do that would. a judge do that a judge can do a judge. has uh enormous Powers yes I think I. think a judge could do that I mean. that's a somewhat Draconian penalty to. accelerate and would leave the judge. open to criticism it also might hurt the. court itself because the court wants to. have an interest in fairness and wants a. smooth trial and accelerating something. too much might be cutting off the. judge's nose despite his face so that. seems like an interum threat to hang out.

there but not I would think the Judge. first would go to lesser sanctions maybe. monetary sanctions or or a gag order or. an enhanced gag order threat of contempt. I've had that I've seen that before. where a court will hold a contempt. finding hold it in abayance which is a. pretty big sword to hold over a lawyer's. head yeah you don't want to be facing. that um okay so I have a lot of things I. wanted to ask you about um the first. thing I also had to ask you about in. relation to this. was what happened over the weekend so.

baldon's team maybe more specifically. Brian fredman creates this website they. launch it it's called The lawu ino.com. and posted on this one is an amended. complaint and the other is an alleged. timeline of relevant events that. includes a ton of text messages and. emails to and from pretty much everyone. involved in this case I thought it was. really interesting before Monday before. a hearing to determine whether you're. making inappropriate outof Court.

statements and whether or not you might. be silen to post all of this on a public. website for everybody to see and that's. where you list this new amended. complaint I thought that was pretty bold. you think that's a good idea wise. decision what do you make of that I. agree bold aggressive hutzpah whatever. whatever the right term is I think I. think it is very aggressive usually uh. you would not do something like that. before a hearing but I'm I'm sure that.

they vetted it carefully they vetted the. material carefully certainly posting a. pleading doesn't seem to me to be out of. bounds these are pleadings made in the. public records whenever you're getting. into work product or advocacy pieces. then I think you know it's getting. closer to the line so but it is a it's a. novel approach a bold approach so I. mentioned that if you look at the court. of public opinion right now and I can't. say this across the board but I would. say a good portion of what we're seeing. is a lot of people siding with baldoni. in fact when we did a live stream.

yesterday of this court hearing 96% of. our followers sided with him 4% with. Blake Lively then again we did an. episode on the celebrity reactions and a. lot of people in Hollywood are. supporting Blake Lively there's a. division there based on what we've seen. so far and I got to tell you we've seen. a lot what might make its way into a. trial text messages audio messages video. evidence other images um.

metadata who has the stronger case right. now I know that's tough to ask who do. you think has the stronger case um. Justin Balon Blake Lively and I am. curious how are they going to prove. their respective claims well I'm going. to remain agnostic as to who uh has the. edge right now in terms I I think you're. more knowledgeable about that than I am. I I do think that the more they can site. to audio tape and videotape I think that. is particularly persuasive evidence.

because everybody can see it and I think. it's much more impactful than just. assertions certainly assertions of. councel in the hierarchy I think text. messages whenever you can hang someone. with their own language and they're in a. position of having to explain that they. didn't really mean what they said you. know the cliche when you're explaining. you're losing so I think on both sides. whenever they have actually used. videotape audio tape or used the actual. words of the other side. I think that that's a good day for them.

Le let's talk about that a little bit so. most recently we now have these. never-before seen text messages that. baloni apparently exchanged with Ryan. Reynolds and remember baldoni is suing. Ryan Reynolds and vice versa and they. are now on this website so these. messages are dated back to February of. 2023 they're before all the drama. started they appear to be one of mutual. respect so the messages allegedly from. Ryan Reynolds re you've been a wonderful. collaborator with be meaning Blake.

Lively and that means a great deal to. both of us being a standup person is. everything and you've been just that. since day one thank you I'm excited for. you to work together I'm excited for. Blake to crack open her creative piggy. bank with someone as dynamic as you this. is going to be incredible I happen to. Adore You Justin now we've taken that AP. a little bit there's a lot more to this. we've dedicated a whole other sidebar to. that full message but basically Ben you. had Justin baldon reaching out to Ryan. Reynolds fanboying a little bit. basically I hope we could be friends you. know I've never had a close female. friend who's married Blake Lively he.

says reached out to his wife so he. reached out to Ryan Reynolds Ryan. Reynolds was very very uh you know. respectful and kind to Justin baldon he. did ask if he could adjust the shooting. schedule a little bit so that Ryan. Reynolds could be with his family there. was a part of this where I look at it. two ways I'm curious how you look at it. one way could say you know look we're. putting this out there look how much. praise Ryan Reynolds is asserting. towards Justin baldon look how. respectful Justin baldon is is he the. type of guy that's going to sexually. harass ran reynolds's wife make her.

uncomfortable and then launch a smear. campaign against her and the other way. of saying it is is Ryan Reynolds a. little bit in these messages by. emphasizing how great it is that you're. working with Blake Lively and how. creative she is and how lucky you are. does that support Justin balon's. argument that this is laying the. breadcrumbs maybe for Ryan Reynolds and. Blake Lively to take control over the. film so there's a reason they wanted to. get it out there it seems like there. might be something beneficial to Justin. baldon do you see it that way yes I do I.

think anything that shows him being. cordial and correct and uh normal I. think is evidence you know certainly. that he can cite to say look I'm not the. kind of person who would make somebody's. wife uncomfortable or anybody any woman. uncomfortable on the set on the other. hand I don't think respectful. Communications between parties before. the fact really count against that. person in other words it almost almost. gives more we had a witness in the in.

the Depp case for example who was very. praising he said very nice things about. Amber you know she was nice to me she. paid attention to me I think the other. side was surprised because this was our. witness but later on you know after you. know what was maintained where the false. allegations were made he said I couldn't. talk to her anymore and I think that. made his testimony more persuasive. because this is not somebody who always. had it in for this person if that makes. sense yeah no it does think you really. have to differentiate time periods so it.

it's quite possible even what you would. expect for the the two of them the. husband and baloni to be friends yeah. the key is what happened after how did. his reaction change afterward if your. wife comes and tells you that she's been. sexually harassed you would expect the. husband Ryan Reynolds to have a very. different reaction or a lot of reason. and they can make the argument Ryan. Reynolds and uh Blake Lively that he. betrayed us you know we reached out were. kind and look what he did or they'll say.

you know they've presented text messages. that would suggest that he was trying to. reverse the narrative later on to make. Ryan Reynolds look anti-feminist there's. actually a text message for that talking. about that let me just go to Lively's. claims for a second because she alleges. that after she brought forth her claims. of unwanted touching and inappropriate. conversations on set she says she was. allegedly retaliated against by baldoni. and his team in the form of that smear. campaign aimed at damaging her. reputation and one of of the most. scrutinized text exchanges appears to.

show the baldoni pr team allegedly. celebrating their success in crafting. negative stories about Lively and it. centers around an article from The Daily. Mail titled is Blake Lively set to be. cancelled so you have Justin baldon's. publicist Jennifer Abel appears to text. his crisis manager Melissa Nathan saying. you really outdid yourself with this. piece to which Nathan appears to respond. in part that's why you hired me right. I'm the best and of course another. exchange that a appears to say he Justin.

baldon wants to feel like she can be. buried to which Nathan seems to respond. with you know we can bury anyone now. this is important Lively's team has. pointed to these messages as evidence of. a coordinated campaign to tarnish her. reputation baloni says that those texts. are taken out of context that it doesn't. show the full messages it doesn't show. the full meaning and that he didn't. organize any kind of smear campaign but. again when she launched her lawsuit and. she had through a a subpoena all of. these messages do you think her claims. about a smear campaign against her are.

maybe the strongest part of her. allegations or what do you think it. could be and that that is one of the. inherent problems I mean we're all. taught to be very careful on text we. tell our children to be careful on text. because these things are emails these. things are all forever you can't really. erase any of this and they can be taken. out of context in in a weak moment or a. joking moment or just a boastful moment. we might be inclined to say certain. things that we haven't thought through.

so it's an argument if another one were. needed why we all have to be more. careful in what we say particularly what. we put in writing and he has also made. the argument look all the allegations. about what I was doing on set are false. and even if I had agreed to a 30o list. of demand from Blake Lively about. changes that need to be made on set like. no more showing nude photographs or. videos I'm saying I didn't do any of. that stuff but I will agree to move. forward to acquest to move forward with. the film that could be a very. interesting point of conversation but he. has asserted that these allegations.

really and the the smear campaign she's. deflecting blame for her torpedoing her. own career that she made toned deaf. comments and and marketing of the film. and according to baldoni Lively. fabricated accusations of a hostile work. environment and sexual harassment as a. means to smear his reputation to shift. the Public's Focus away from what she. did and this is what's interesting as. part of his push to bring everything out. into the light baloni reled releases the. raw video from a scene that he and.

Lively were filming together where she. accuses him of being inappropriate he. says she's the one who breaks character. and doesn't seem to be uncomfortable and. she made comments about his appearance. Ben have you seen the footage what do. you think about that footage who does it. help more I have only heard it described. so I I don't want to speculate about. that but it does kind of circle back to. my original point about the risk that. they both face because they both are. well represented and they both can make. cases in support of their respective.

positions And so there's a real danger. may not happen one side May fully. persuade the jury but there there is a. danger that the jury could essentially. hang or that there might be some on the. jury to say directly or indirectly aox. on on both of their houses again it goes. back to the issue of whether they can. really convince the jury as to this. serious and there are as you pointed out. well there are very serious allegations. here but I also think there's a danger. of them meeting in the middle and some.

people on the jury just saying look. these are two wealthy Attractive people. I I don't know what to do. here and and you know talking about that. digital evidence the daily mail recently. published a nearly 7 Minute voice note. that baldon allegedly sent to Lively at. 2 a.m. and in the message he can be. heard apologizing and to provide a. little context it was to apologize for. what seemed to be his hesitancy to. accept the script changes that Blake.

Lively had made to a key scene in the. film and the voicemail reportedly. coincides with text messages that Lively. had sent to baldoni shortly before this. in which she said you know she her. feelings were hurt that baldoni seemed. to only admire her passion but not her. actual contribution she talked about her. insecurities and it was also by the way. around this time that Lively allegedly. mentioned her Inner Circle of supporters. including her husband Ryan Reynolds and. pop star Taylor Swift who had seemed to. back her her work on the script told.

Justin baldoni to his face how great. these revisions were and he would say I. felt pressured to accept her revisions. I'm sure he would make the argument I. felt pressured to kind of apologize to. her in this message I was just trying to. do everything the right way the other. way of looking at it though and we'll. play a little bit of it in a second the. other way of looking at it though Ben is. she could say he's calling me up at 2. a.m. talking about my body talking about. how he wants all of you know all of me. not to suggest this is sexual but it's. just just a weird thing to do and it's.

consistent with what she accuses of them. I want to play a quick uh voice note I. want to start with an. apology man. I reading the second part of your. message my heart. sank and uh I'm really sorry um I I for. sure fell short and you worked really. hard on that I am far from perfect I am. a very flawed man as my wife will attest.

and uh and I'm going to up I'm going to. say the wrong thing I'm going to put my. foot in my mouth uh I'm going to piss. you off probably but I will always. apologize and um and find my way back to. Center and damn right you got great. friends if if that's how you felt and. they knew that. and we should all have friends like that. um aside from the fact that they're two. of the most creative people on the. planet um the three of you guys together. is unbelievable able talk about energy.

and just to force all three of you but I. just wanted you to know that I didn't. need that because it's really good and. it's going to make the movie sing I am. so sorry you have been through what. you've been through with these other. filmmakers and producers or whoever the. people were that you worked with it just. pissed me. off those heads that. I I'm just still kind of Blown Away that. this is the industry that in and that. you've experienced that as a woman.

and I know I don't need to say it but. that's not at all going to be or will be. and hopefully it's not been the. experience with me there's nothing more. exciting to me like that I get to work. with Blake Lively and have her all of. her that's what I want I'm going to stop. rambling cuz it's been 6 minutes and 30. seconds. so I'm. sorry you probably have kids all over. you and a baby on your boob and you're. listening to me ramble at 2: in the. morning uh I hope you're feeling better.

and uh give Ryan my love thank you for. for sending me that means the world to. me that you trust me with your feelings. and your thoughts like that and. um I can't wait to spend more time with. you okay I'm done cutting myself off. good night so Ben just real quick what. do you think about that one I think the. timing of of the call is unusual un. unless this is something that they they. normally did communicate at 2: a.m. is.

for some usual but for most of us it's. not so I think the timing of the call if. she can say that that you know he's. never called me at 2 in the morning kind. of gives it a less favorable context for. him by contrast that this is something. that was normal um then then maybe less. so I don't think apologizing per se will. be held against him because I think it's. a nice thing it's a polite thing to do. if you've given offense I think we've. all apologized for things that we really.

didn't intend to be harmful so I think. he could spin that in a way look I'm. just trying to go along to get along and. right um yeah I I I can see his side of. that one Ben I have to ask you about. this other part the lawsuit that Justin. baldon filed against the New York Times. claiming defamation saying they. basically took Lively's complaint to the. California civil rights Department as. truth they didn't do their due diligence. it was sloppy reporting they even. alleged that they colluded conspired. with Blake Lively to release this that. they looked at cherry-pick messages.

basically asserted a narrative that was. false and in the new amended complaint. and right now it was Consolidated so the. New York Times was a part of it it. includes some very intriguing new claims. about the publication so Brian fredman. baldon's attorney has previously. suggested that the times I said was. collaborating with Lively long before. she filed her complaint and in this new. document on this website they include. what they say is metadata from the times. website and it indicates that the outlet. had access to Lively's complaint 10 or.

11 days prior to it being filed that if. you look at the metadata they were. working on this piece including imagery. days before it was published um your. thoughts on going after the New York. Times and saying this was a coordinated. effort as a threshold matter Jesse as. you're well aware suing a publication. for. defamation you know under the actual Mal. standard New York Times V suan the. burden is so high on a plain if in the. Depp case for example we did not give.

much thought to suing the Washington. Post which published the oped because. just the standard is so high even if the. publication were deemed to be negligent. didn't do a thorough vetting that's a. defense so to having to prove actual. malice against a publication in this. context as venerable a publication as. the New York Times it's an. extraordinarily High bar to meet not. saying it's insuperable I've been. involved in a case against a news organ. gation before but it's a very very high.

bar so you better have you better have. the receipts if you're going to do it as. opposed to going after the person who. allegedly lied uh because that you know. if you can prove the LIE then you've. proven malice but for the newspaper or. publication you've got to go that extra. step which is very hard to do and and. they also said that they didn't give. them enough time to properly respond to. that article before it was published. showing their bad faith showing they. were going to put down this narrative. Any Which Way Before I Let You Go Ben I.

have to ask you about Ryan Reynolds so. he is named as a defendant in this. action and in Justin baldon says this is. a guy who berated him verbally attacked. him accused him of fat shaming Blake. Lively he tried to have his talent. agency drop him as a client and then. there's this new part so in the new. amended complaint baldoni added this in. and there was a lot of Suspicion about. this but now it seems to be confirmed in. the actual uh amended complaint that the. character of nice poool that was. portrayed by Ryan Reynold in his movie. Deadpool and Wolverine was actually.

intended to mock baldoni so according to. the complaint Reynolds portrayed nice. poool as a vicious caricature of a woke. feminist before concluding the. character's Arc with his violent. shooting death at the hands of Lady. poool a character voiced by Blake Lively. upon information and belief the nice. pool scenes were added to the movie and. filmed in January 2024 after the January. 4th confrontation in Reynolds and. Lively's apartment and were intended to. be a transparent and mocking portrayal. of Reynolds warp perception of baldoni. nice pool commented inappropriately on a. female character's attractive body after.

child birth and excused his remark by. claiming he identified as a feminist. nice poool also made reference to an. intimacy coordinator and even used a. hairstyle that mirrored baldon's. previously longer hair and we know that. baldoni has come forward talking about. advocating for women and talking about. being a feminist or a similar vein to. that and that certain the things that. nice pole referenced were things that. were going on allegedly between baldoni. and Lively talk to me real quick Ben. about bringing Ryan Reynolds into this. and adding this whole part of the nice.

poool uh the nice pool segment wow I. mean it's really it's really expanding. the scope of the dispute um and and. again you can you can understand why. they might be tempted to do it you can. also understand that there's a risk. there a lot of people might identify. with a husband defending his wife so. that there's a risk in going after him. as well because we all know how we would. react under these circumstances so I. think there's I think there is risk on. both sides I think this is a fast ating. case and will become more fascinating as.

it goes along and the more they play. into the media I think the more pressure. there's going to be on that judge and. maybe I'm wrong maybe he will end up. saying I'm going to expedite this thing. I don't want a circus I want this thing. over with so it will be fascinating to. see this play out and it's really. interesting taking these different uh. pieces of evidence and characterizing. them based on Whose argument you believe. in which context it goes it's it's. really an interesting case and it's just. getting started Ben Chu so good seeing.

you thank you so much for taking the. time always generous with your time Ben. thank you thank you thank you appreciate. it thank thank you Jesse anytime and. that's all we have for you right now. here on sidebar everybody thank you so. much for joining us and as always please. subscribe on YouTube Apple podcast. Spotify wherever you should get your. podcast I'm Jesse Weber I'll speak to. you next time. [Music].