The owner of a crisis mitigation firm who was accused of launching a “digital army” against Blake Lively has sued the actor for defamation.
Jed Wallace, owner of Street Relations, filed a multi-million dollar suit against Lively on Tuesday in federal court in Texas. Wallace was accused in Lively’s lawsuit and civil rights complaint of working as part of Justin Baldoni‘s online smear campaign against her, which she claimed came in retaliation for her complaints of sexual harassment on the set of “It Ends With Us.”
In his lawsuit, Wallace states that he had “nothing to do with” the alleged retaliatory effort. He also argues that he has suffered millions of dollars in reputational harm due to being named in the complaint.
This marks the fifth lawsuit filed in connection with the Baldoni-Lively scandal. Baldoni’s other publicists, Jen Abel and Melissa Nathan, previously joined a similar defamation complaint against Lively and others, alleging that their lives had been turned “upside down” and that they had become “objects of public scorn” due to being accused of orchestrating the anti-Lively smear effort.
In response to Wallace’s suit, Lively’s legal team stated it simply furthers the retaliatory campaign against Lively.
“Another day, another state, another nine-figure lawsuit seeking to sue Ms. Lively ‘into oblivion’ for speaking out against sexual harassment and retaliation,” they said. “This is not just a publicity stunt — it is transparent retaliation in response to allegations contained within a sexual harassment and retaliation complaint that Ms. Lively filed with the California Civil Rights Department. While this lawsuit will be dismissed, we are pleased that Mr. Wallace has finally emerged from the shadows, and that he too will be held accountable in federal court.”
The evidence of Wallace’s involvement stems from an August text message between Nathan and Abel, which was obtained by Lively’s attorneys. In the message, Nathan reports that “we are crushing it on Reddit,” and attributes the information to “Jed.”
According to Lively’s legal filings, Wallace had been hired by Nathan as a subcontractor “to seed and influence online forums on Reddit attacking Ms. Lively and defending Mr. Baldoni.”
“Mr. Wallace has described himself as a ‘hired gun’ and claimed a ‘proprietary formula for defining artists and trends,’” Lively’s attorneys stated in her lawsuit.
Wallace was named as a respondent in Lively’s civil rights complaint, but was not named as a defendant in her lawsuit.
On Jan. 21, Lively’s attorneys filed a notice in Hays County, Texas, indicating they would ask a court to allow them to depose Wallace. That petition was dropped on Tuesday.
Wallace’s attorneys argue that Lively should not be protected by litigation privilege because her attorneys gave her civil rights complaint to “many media outlets,” which created “headlines around the world.”
The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgement absolving Wallace of liability in the matter, as well as damages for defamation, including at least $6 million in punitive damages.
