Blake Lively doesn't want Justin Baldoni's lawyer to take her deposition, but she won't say why not ... so says the lawyer himself.
Bryan Freedman -- the attorney representing the actor in a series of different lawsuits -- and his law firm have submitted a letter to the judge ... claiming Lively and her legal team don't want Freedman to take her deposition in her lawsuit against Baldoni.
Freedman and his associates claim they object to him taking the deposition because of "unspecified statements" he's made about her in the past. Freedman's team then claims Lively's side didn't elaborate on their grounds for objection.
According to new court documents, obtained by TMZ ... the A-list couple's lawyers informed a NYC judge of their plans to file a motion to dismiss the "It Ends With Us" director's complaint against them -- in which Baldoni claimed they, along with their publicist Leslie Sloane, coordinated a smear campaign against him.
As you know, Blake made similar claims against Justin and his team when she filed a legal complaint against her costar ... where she alleged he sexually harassed her while making their romance drama.
Soulja Boy is threatening to come after Bhad Bhabie both legally and physically after the Internet personality made allegedly false claims about his personal life.
Here's the skinny ... in her new diss track "Over Cooked," Bhad Bhabie accused rival Alabama Barker of trying to steal her baby daddy, Le Vaughn, in addition to having intimate relations with both Soulja and Tyga -- who Bhabie claimed got Alabama pregnant.
Both Alabama and Tyga swiftly denied the allegations ... and now, Soulja has entered the chat with a denial of his own.
Spencer Pratt is willing to let go of his 14-year grudge towards Andy Cohen ... but only if the "Watch What Happens Live" host offers up a one-on-one apology to his wife, Heidi Montag.
Spencer tells TMZ ... he and Heidi are both open to an "I'm sorry" message from Andy, but require the Bravo personality to reach out directly to "The Hills" alum ... something he's still yet to do, despite issuing mea culpas on his radio show more than once.
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Per Spencer, he's seen Andy's recent apology, where the 'WWHL' star expressed regret over calling Heidi "trash" on TV nearly 15 years earlier ... but noted the contrite update didn't mean a whole lot since AC hadn't "reached out privately."
Heather McDonald thinks fans are pointing the finger at the wrong person in the Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively "It Ends With Us" drama ... suggesting one A-list player was the real "bully."
We caught up with the comedian outside a Starbucks in Los Angeles, where she sounded off on Justin's viral 6-minute-long voice note -- which has left the Internet divided over whether it was totally creepy or not.
Heather, who admitted to flip-flopping between sides amid Justin and Blake's legal war, defends Justin ... applauding his "sexy ass voice" and notes the audio message actually highlights a once-cordial relationship between the 2 performers.
Kyle Richards and Garcelle Beauvais' friendship is tougher than a diamond ... the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star has revealed she and her costar are moving past the now-viral "lesbian" comment.
We caught up with Kyle after Garcelle doubled down on her not-so-subtle comment on KR's rumored sexuality ... and the "Halloween" actress made it clear she wasn't going to further fuel the drama.
As she put it ... she and Garcelle are "good now," confirming she and her fellow Bravo personality have hashed things out since swapping jabs in the press.
Justin Baldoni is ripping Blake Lively, claiming she cherry-picked facts for the NY Times hit piece against him ... and he's planning to do the opposite to get the truth out.
Blake just filed new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, saying Justin's attorney Bryan Freedman is trying to taint the jury pool and influence court proceedings and public perception with his comments in the media, plus an upcoming website Justin's launching.
Bryan's firing back at Blake, telling TMZ ... the motive behind the Baldoni website is to "do the exact opposite" of what he claims Blake and husband Ryan Reynolds did "when they gave provable false information to the New York Times."
Donald Trump and Gavin Newsom won't be going on vacation or downing a couple beers together anytime soon ... but, the two men are staying cordial while POTUS is in L.A. -- at least for now.
The 47th President of the United States touched down at LAX Friday afternoon to assess the damage caused by the devastating wildfires in the region ... and, the Governor of California was at the airport to meet him.
Check out the clip ... the two bitter rivals shake hands and seem to put their issues aside for a friendly conversation on the tarmac. The two politicians exchange a few brief words which appear to be genial and warm, as they engage in a tug-of-war handshake back and forth.
The megastars filed a letter in court Tuesday ... and, in it, they ask the court to issue a protective order to stop Baldoni's lawyers -- led by Bryan Freedman -- from engaging in "improper conduct" including going on an alleged "harassing and retaliatory media campaign" against Blake and Ryan.
Courtesy of Bryan Freedman
They say he's violating court rules that stop a lawyer from making statements to the press that are irrelevant to a case and might prejudice the jury.
Blake Lively is thrilled Justin Baldoni decided to release unedited footage from "It Ends With Us," because she says it only proves her point ... that she was visibly uncomfortable with Baldoni's advances during the scene.
Blake's legal team tells TMZ, "Justin Baldoni and his lawyer may hope that this latest stunt will get ahead of the damaging evidence against him, but the video itself is damning. Every frame of the released footage corroborates, to the letter, what Ms. Lively described in Paragraph 48 of her Complaint."
Courtesy of Bryan Freedman
They continue, "The video shows Mr. Baldoni repeatedly leaning in toward Ms. Lively, attempting to kiss her, kissing her forehead, rubbing his face and mouth against her neck, flicking her lip with his thumb, caressing her, telling her how good she smells, and talking with her out of character."
Justin Baldoni is staying on the offensive ... attempting to shoot down Blake Lively's allegation he sexually harassed her, by releasing raw video from "It Ends With Us" that reveals some very telling conversation between the costars.
Baldoni's team dropped nearly 10 minutes of unedited footage -- including one scene where Justin and Blake are slow dancing. Blake referenced the scene in her lawsuit against Justin, and accused him of getting creepy with comments about the fragrance she was wearing.
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In the video, which has both actors mic'd up, you don't see Justin making any offensive comments or actions toward Blake. We're told his team believes this completely refutes Blake's sexual harassment claim.
Heather McDonald isn't feeling sorry for either Justin Baldoni or Blake Lively amid their legal war ... blasting the two actors for duking it out in their respective lawsuits.
We caught up with the comedian outside Craig's in West Hollywood on Monday, where she gave her candid opinion on the Hollywood drama. While Heather noted the situation has made for good content for her "Juicy Scoop" podcast, she told us both Justin and Blake are clearly in the wrong.
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Watch the video ... she blasted Justin as "kind of a weirdo," and said she totally believed the actor was "creepy and inappropriate" on set ... which Blake claimed in her lawsuit against her "It Ends With Us" costar and director.
Justin Baldoni's fans are sticking by him despite accusations made by Blake Lively ... stopping him to take a few pics after he left a grocery store in Hawaii.
The actor was leaving the store in Maui Saturday ... and, he nearly didn't make it to his car, 'cause a whole bunch of fans wanted photos with him -- and, Baldoni happily obliged.
Check out the video and pics ... a series of women run up to him -- taking selfies or having friends take the pics while slinging an arm around the producer and podcast host.
Kid Rock is gearing up to perform at one of Donald Trump's big inauguration events over the weekend -- but one former first lady who won't be at the inauguration is Michelle Obama -- and KR is taking a little jab at her.
The rock star was interviewed Thursday on "Jesse Watters Primetime" ... with Watters kicking things off by asking KR if Monday's inauguration was going to be his first.
TMZ.com
KR responded no and that he heard Michelle was skipping the event, before telling a story about how he performed at Barack's 2009 inauguration despite not voting for him.
Blake Lively is not backing down from Justin Baldoni's massive legal challenge ... and she says his $400 million lawsuit is straight out of the abuser playbook.
Blake's legal team responded to Justin's lawsuit Thursday with a scathing statement, saying ... "This is an age-old story: A woman speaks up with concrete evidence of sexual harassment and retaliation and the abuser attempts to turn the tables on the victim. This is what experts call DARVO. Deny. Attack. Reverse Victim Offender."
Lively's team says Justin and his production company are pulling out all the stops to try and "overwhelm the public’s ability to understand that what they are doing is retaliation against sexual harassment allegations."
Justin Baldoni is continuing his legal crusade against his "It Ends With Us" costar Blake Lively -- he and his production company just filed a massive lawsuit against Blake, her husband Ryan Reynolds and her publicist Leslie Sloane ... seeking hundreds of millions of dollars.
Justin and his company, Wayfarer Studios, which produced "It Ends With Us," filed the federal suit ripping Blake and Leslie for their alleged campaign to smear Baldoni and snatch away control of the movie ... which he directed and costarred in with Blake.
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According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Blake was "determined to make Baldoni the real-life villain in her story" to deflect from getting publicly trashed as "tone-deaf" during the film's media tour.
