Justin Baldoni is embroiled in a public relations scandal after being sued by his former publicist, Stephanie Jones, over defamation and breach of contract. Jones, who founded the company that represented Baldoni, claims that his current publicist Jennifer Abel and crisis PR manager Melissa Nathan conspired to attack her behind the scenes and breach multiple contracts.
The lawsuit alleges that Abel and Nathan secretly coordinated a media smear campaign against Jones without her knowledge or involvement, and then publicly pinned blame on her. Jones denies this, stating that she never doctored any text messages and that Abel’s messages were extracted directly from her company phone.
This PR battle has sent shockwaves through the industry, with some insiders calling it a “smear campaign” against both Lively and the publicists involved. As one studio executive put it, “There are two smear campaigns going on here… It doesn’t mean that Jen Abel and Melissa Nathan didn’t do anything wrong, but who sold them out?” The lawsuit is just the latest twist in the ongoing saga between Baldoni and Blake Lively, with more surprises likely to come.
Source: https://www.avclub.com/justin-baldoni-sued-former-publicist-it-ends-with-us-blake-lively