The 2024 film It Ends with Us, starring Blake Lively and director Justin Baldoni, became embroiled in a massive legal and public relations battle after its August 2024 release, fueled by fan criticism of Lively's lighthearted press tour and reports of a cast rift. In December 2024, Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department and a subsequent federal lawsuit, alleging Baldoni created a hostile work environment and orchestrated a smear campaign via a PR team, a claim amplified by a New York Times article. Baldoni vehemently denied the allegations, framing the conflict as creative differences, and countersued for $250 million against the Times and $400 million against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist, alleging extortion and defamation. The legal saga saw a brief attempt to subpoena Taylor Swift (which was withdrawn) and the dismissal of Baldoni's claims in June 2025, but in April 2026, a federal court dismissed 10 of Lively's 13 claims—including sexual harassment—on jurisdictional grounds, effectively removing Baldoni and other individual defendants from the lawsuit.