However, a lot has changed since the nominees were first announced on December 9. Since then, Lively—and even Reynolds, to a degree—has found herself at the center of a fast-moving media maelstrom. It began on December 21, when Lively filed a complaint in California against her It Ends With Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni, for sexual harassment, claiming he fostered a hostile work environment. She alleges that he also orchestrated a smear campaign against her, with the intention of damaging her reputation.
According to Lively’s complaint, Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, are accused of hiring publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis PR expert Melissa Nathan to “destroy” her credibility, fearing that she would eventually go public with her misconduct allegations against Baldoni, which she says were settled at a private meeting with Sony during filming.
A few days later, The New York Times published a report about the alleged smear campaign, which included alleged seemingly damning text messages between Baldoni and his publicists. Several lawsuits followed: Baldoni sued the New York Times for libel; publicist Stephanie Jones, whose former employee, Jennifer Abel, is accused of orchestrating the alleged smear campaign alongside crisis PR expert Melissa Nathan, sued both women for damage to her and her company’s reputation; and Lively later filed a separate lawsuit in New York which mirrors her California complaint. Baldoni’s attorney has since said that the actor/director “absolutely” plans to sue Lively, too.
In his lawsuit against the Times, Baldoni also accused Reynolds—who was present at the initial misconduct meeting regarding Baldoni’s behavior towards Lively on the It Ends With Us set—of “berating” him in front of IEWU producers; additionally, Baldoni’s complaint alleges that Reynolds encouraged Baldoni’s talent agency, WME, to drop him as a client. The agency, which represents both Lively and Reynolds as well, later refuted this allegation, saying in a statement that they made the decision to drop Baldoni all on their own.
So uh, yeah. This brings us back to the question: Will Blake Lively attend the Golden Globes 2025? With so much uncertainty, and so many legal filings flying back and forth between Lively’s and Baldoni’s camps, it’s difficult to say.
We do have one promise, however. Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser has assured fans (and some lawyers, probably) that jokes about the legal battle between Lively and Baldoni are strictly off the table. In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Glaser said, “I think the Blake Lively–Justin Baldoni thing is such a hot-button thing right now that even a mere mention of it will seem like I could be on the wrong side of things, even though I would never be.”
She added, “I also don’t want to give his name any— I’m mad I even know his name, to be honest with you, so I don’t need to say it anymore.”
