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Blake Lively‘s publicist Leslie Sloane made a formal request to be removed from Justin Baldoni‘s lawsuit that targets her, Blake and Ryan Reynolds. The 41-year-old actor/director filed the lawsuit in January and is seeking $400 million in damages. In it, he accused Blake and Leslie of orchestrating a smear campaign against him in order to take control of their movie It Ends With Us. On Thursday (February 20), Leslie alleged that she was “dragged” into this situation and asked a judge to remove her from it. She also continued to defend Blake while slamming Justin for “sexist” behavior. Keep reading to find out more… In a motion to dismiss that was obtained by People, Leslie said that her inclusion int he lawsuit was a “smoke and mirrors exercise to distract” from Blake‘s allegations of sexual harassment against Justin. She added that there wasn’t evidence or “basis” to back up the claims Leslie was responsible for “malicious stories” or a “smear campaign.” “Baldoni’s allegations about the creative issues are irrelevant and tellingly sexist. Because Ms. Lively — an executive producer on the film — dared to offer input on the script, wardrobe and editing, Baldoni blasts her as ‘tyrannical’ and ‘aggressive,’ among other coded terms,” the motion reads. It continued: “When Ms. Lively bravely spoke up about Baldoni’s predatory behavior, he and his team used every weapon in their arsenal to blame, embarrass and silence her, going so far as to hire a crisis PR manager who promised to ‘bury’ Ms. Lively and ‘destroy’ her life.”
