Chelsea Handler took the proverbial out of Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively as she hosted the Critics Choice Awards.
It's the celebrity feud that ended in lawsuits, as Baldoni and Lively have sued each other and left a judge saying they'd 'given the public plenty to feast upon'.
The quick version is that in December, Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni, alleging that the actor and director committed sexual harassment while on the set of the film, and then launched a 'social manipulation' campaign.
Advert
Baldoni last month filed a $400 million countersuit alleging that Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds and their publicist are attempting to destroy his reputation.
He also sued the New York Times for libel, claiming that they published 'cherry-picked' information from Lively's lawsuit, and Baldoni has also posted his legal materials online for everyone to read.
Their legal representatives faced off in court this week at the pre-trial, and a judge set their court date for 9 March, 2026, but suggested it could be brought forward due to the very public nature of the case which could prejudice a jury to one side or another.
This is very much a legal battle taking place in public, and at the Critics Choice Awards last night (7 February), host Chelsea Handler put both Lively and Baldoni on blast.
"Waking up every day not knowing what news we are going to hear that will disappoint or horrify us, it is so important in times like these to have a distraction," the host joked before training her comedic guns on the legal spat which threatens to rumble on for a good long while.
"And that's why I want to personally extend my gratitude to Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively. Thank you for providing us with that distraction. I'm grateful, we're all grateful.
"I think everybody in this room, no matter whose side you're on, we can all agree to accept that there's probably not gonna be a sequel. It ends with us, guys."
Lively was recently sued again, this time by crisis publicist Jed Wallace.
In a $7 million defamation lawsuit it challenges her over claims she made that his firm 'weaponised a digital army' as part of an alleged smear campaign against her.
Lively's first lawsuit named Wallace and his PR firm, Street Relations, alleging that he had 'a digital army around the country from New York to Los Angeles to create, seed and promote content that appeared to be authentic on social media platforms and internet chat forums'.
Wallace's lawsuit claims that Lively has 'no facts supporting the allegations she made against Wallace and Street'.
In a statement made on behalf of Blake Lively, her representatives said: "Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms Lively ‘into oblivion’ for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation."
Topics: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Celebrity
Joe Harker