Taylor Swift is the latest big name to appear in Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s contentious legal scuffle.
TMZ reported on Friday that Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, subpoenaed Swift as a witness in the case related to “It Ends With Us,” a 2024 romance film starring Baldoni and Lively.
Although the film did well at the global box office, its success has been overshadowed by the behind-the-scenes rift between its leading stars. In addition to acting, Baldoni directed the film, and Lively was billed as a producer.
In response to the subpoena, a spokesperson said Swift had minimal involvement in the film beyond licensing her song “My Tears Ricochet.”
“Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even see ‘It Ends With Us’ until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024 headlining the biggest tour in history,” the spokesperson told Good Morning America.
The spokesperson said the decision to subpoena one of the world’s biggest pop stars was made to create “tabloid clickbait.”
“The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, ‘My Tears Ricochet.’ Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case,” the spokesperson said.
Representatives for Swift, Lively, and Baldoni did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Lively and Baldoni have countersued each other
So far, neither Lively nor Baldoni has backed down in their legal battle.
Following the August 2024 premiere of “It Ends With Us,” based on Colleen Hoover’s eponymous book, Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department accusing Baldoni of sexually harassing her and creating a “hostile work environment that had nearly derailed production of the Film.”
The complaint also accused Baldoni and his team of attempting to damage Lively’s public reputation. The complaint, formalized into a lawsuit last December, mentioned Swift by name.
Baldoni sued The New York Times for libel last December after the outlet published an article about Lively’s accusations. One month later, Baldoni accused Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of taking over the film and attempting to hurt his reputation in a $400 million lawsuit. Both Lively and Reynolds have asked for Baldoni’s lawsuit to be dismissed.
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