"I am not team Baldoni": Perez Hilton claims he'll keep screenshots of Blake Lively's legal firm "gloating" about victory in Justin Baldoni case

American blogger and columnist Perez Hilton took to YouTube to talk about Blake Lively’s legal team celebrating their success after Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer’s $400 million defamation countersuit was dismissed by a judge.

On Monday, June 9, 2025, according to The New York Times, federal Judge Lewis J. Liman of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan dismissed the defamation lawsuit filed by Justin Baldoni against his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively, her actor-husband Ryan Reynolds, and their publicist Leslie Sloane, alleging extortion, defamation, and invasion of privacy.

In its article published the same day, the news outlet noted that the judge had also dismissed the actor-director’s December 2024 lawsuit against them. With this defamation suit, Justin Baldoni had demanded $250 million in compensation from The New York Times. He argued that the news organization's December 21, 2024, article, which detailed Blake Lively’s accusations, had defamed him.

On Thursday, June 26, Perez Hilton talked about Blake Lively’s legal team, Manatt, seemingly boasting about their success. In his YouTube video, the media personality read the headline from Manatt’s article on how they secured a win for Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.

“Listen, I'm not delusional, and I'm not team Baldoni. I am team 'the truth.' I believe Justin, but I am team 'the truth.' And that means also keeping it real,” Perez Hilton said.

Notably, the Manatt team in the case was led by Esra Hudson, Stephanie Roeser, and Matthew Bruno. According to their website, the three helped in the dismissal of Justin Baldoni’s counterclaim against Blake Lively in their ongoing legal case.

Talking about Blake Lively's legal firm's article and its screenshots, Perez further said:

“This, that, factually accurate. However, it might be premature. They are gloating on their website now. I got screenshots. If they end up losing where it matters the most, at trial, I'm gonna come back to this. Don't think I will forget. I will come back to this.”

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Latest developments in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni's legal drama, explored

After Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni's defamation lawsuit against Lively on June 9, 2025, the actor-director was given until Monday, June 23, to file amended claims against his It Ends With Us co-star. However, he and his legal team did not submit any amended claims by the deadline.

According to People on June 24, Baldoni is not proceeding with refiling claims in his countersuit. However, his attorney, Bryan Freedman, said that they are instead pursuing “additional legal options.” In a statement shared with the publication, the lawyer said:

“The Court’s decision on the motion to dismiss has no effect whatsoever on the truth that there was no harassment nor any smear campaign, and it does not in any way affect our vigorous defense against Ms. Lively’s claims.”

Talking about how Justin Baldoni will move forward with his case, Bryan Freedman added:

“Discovery is proceeding and we are confident that we will prevail against these factually baseless accusations. Instead of revising the existing claims, our clients will be pursuing additional legal options that are available to us.”

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Notably, the legal drama began when Blake accused Justin of s*xual harassment during the production of their film It Ends With Us. She raised a complaint in December 2024, also alleging that her co-star led a coordinated effort to damage her reputation. Meanwhile, their legal trial is set for March 2026.

Edited by Janhavi Chauhan