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Justin Baldoni's lawyer is firing back at Blake Lively's attempt to cut herself out of the ongoing legal drama surrounding the film, "It Ends with Us."

Bryan Freedman tells TMZ ... "Ms. Lively's recent motion to dismiss herself from the self-concocted disaster she initiated is one of the most abhorrent examples of abusing our legal system."

Freedman says "stringent rules are put into place to protect the innocent and allow individuals to rightfully defend themselves," while noting "laws are not meant to be twisted and curated by privileged elites to fit their own personal agenda."

Earlier today ... TMZ broke the story that Blake filed her motion to dismiss, saying Baldoni violated the law by filing his own lawsuit for the purposes of revenge.

Blake says Baldoni filed his defamation suit against her, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist, Leslie Sloane, right after she filed her lawsuit against him. In her suit, Blake accused Justin of sexually harassing her, and launching a smear campaign during the filming of the flick. As you know, Baldoni was the movie's director and Blake's costar.

As we reported Wednesday ... Reynolds was first to file a motion to be dismissed from Baldoni's suit, claiming Justin labeled him a "predator." But, Reynolds argued, it's not defamation because he believes the statement to be true, and Justin would have to prove otherwise.

In his statement to TMZ, Freedman reiterated ... "As we said yesterday in response to Mr. Reynolds' same cowardly measures, we will continue to hold Ms. Lively accountable for her actions of pure malice which include falsely accusing my clients of harassment and retaliation."

Freedman summed it up by saying Blake's "fantastical claims will be swiftly debunked as discovery moves forward, easily disproved with actual, evidentiary proof."

Sean Lowe found himself in a tough spot -- literally -- pinning down his dog after it bit him for the third time, just to keep it under control while cops worked to free him from danger.

In the tense body cam footage obtained by TMZ, the "Bachelor" alum was on the ground for a few minutes holding down his snarling rescue dog, Moose -- telling cops that if he let go, the animal would lunge at him again.

It’s a nail-biting standoff -- Moose thrashes in resistance for a while before the scrambling officers finally get control ... after dodging a few close calls themselves, tasing the animal as Sean manages to escape the chaos.

Liam Payne’s girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, couldn’t hold back the tears in a new TikTok video as she opened up about the special memories they shared before his death.

In the clip posted Thursday, Kate was sitting on the floor, surrounded by boxes ... explaining she’d been dreading going through them because they were full of stuff from the last few months with Liam, and it was just too hard.

Kate pulled out a long evening dress, saying it gave her some peace and comfort finding it because it reminded her of a special memory from a wedding she had attended with the late One Direction star.

When Elsie Hewitt isn't sucking face with her new beau Pete Davidson, she's modeling for apparel companies and posing for magazines ... including the illustrious Playboy!

Now, Elsie is striking some more sexy poses ... only this time it's for one of our sizzling Hot Shot photo galleries. Enjoy the pics and try not to get burned -- because Elsie is smokin'!

Check her out ... and, as you do, it will become abundantly clear that Elsie loves her bikinis. We have to admit ... they look pretty damn good on her.

Fivio Foreign has been quietly wilting away in New Jersey jail since January on multiple charges ... but his attorney says it's the weakest case he's ever seen!!!

TMZ Hip Hop spoke to Adam Lustberg, who's been repping Fivio for years and tells us he expects the Brooklyn drill pioneer to be released in a couple months.

We obtained the docs ... Fivio is accused of pointing a gun at a woman who was simply asking him for a car jumpstart on New Year's Day in Edgewater, NJ.

Danny McBride could be in for a crappy surprise -- literally -- over the use apparent use of real monkeys in his hit show "The Righteous Gemstones."

PETA tells TMZ ... the org is threatening to send McBride fake monkey poop after spotting what they claim is a real capuchin monkey in the show's trailer.

PETA claims they have been firing off emails to McBride's reps and HBO execs demanding primates be left out of the show, and a commitment to never using wild animals in productions again ... but haven't heard back.

Pete Davidson and his newly revealed girlfriend are not wasting any time packing on the PDA ... because we just got hot shots of them together getting super-steamy on the beach.

Pete and Elsie Hewitt were photographed getting hot and heavy in Palm Beach, Florida just one day after it was revealed they're officially seeing each other. The "Saturday Night Live" alum was trying hard to keep his new relationship under wraps ... but that didn't last long.

Pete has a track record of dating Hollywood hotties ... and his newest squeeze is no different. Elsie, a well-known model, has been linked to Benny Blanco and Jason Sudeikis in the past.

50 Cent has set his beef with Diddy aside -- all for the greater good of Kanye West's welfare!!!

On Thursday, Ye made sure 50 heard what he said loud and clear by doubling down on his fury towards Jay-Z and Beyoncé's kids with a post to replace the one he deleted yesterday.

In the latest post, Ye screamed, "50 I SAID JAY Z AND BEYONCES KIDS ARE R******* LETS MAKE THE HOT WATER BOILING HOT OR LIKE POPLE SAY BROILING HOT." 50 had admitted he'd taken the day off from social media posting in the wake of Ye's tirade ... and now thinks Diddy's advice from their phone call earlier this week is the right way to go!!!

Can't you smell that? That would be the beautiful aroma of sexy ladies in floral swimwear of course!

The first day of spring calls for showcasing the blooming babes of Hollywood, and from Alix Earle, to Megan Thee Stallion, we've come stacked with a colorful arrangement of gorgeous gals in floral swimsuits!

Awaken your senses and brighten your day with stars like Devon Windsor whose yellow and pink is sure to make you wink 😜!

Rapper Too Short is getting back into the movie biz with his manager, David Weintraub, and their first film together has some major star power!

The Hollywood heavyweights are executive producers on the drama flick, "Freaky Tales," featuring a slew of A-List actors ... Pedro Pascal, Tom Hanks, Jay Ellis, Ben Mendelsohn, Jack Champion, Ji-young Yoo, rapper Symba, singer Normani, and Too Short himself.

"Freaky Tales" is a wild ride through 1980s Oakland, California, giving an in-depth view into the city's music and sports scenes ... namely hip hop and basketball. Short plays the role of a crooked cop, and Oakland rapper Symba takes on the part of Short as a youngster.

Detroit Pistons hooper Malik Beasley is moving on after his split from Montana Yao ... 'cause he just hard-launched his new girl after Wednesday night's win.

Instagram model Natalia Garibotto shared a pic of the two walking out of the Kaseya Center after his 116-113 victory over the Heat in Miami -- which the 28-year-old reposted on his own Story.

She also showed Beasley running over to her after the final buzzer.

tWitch's widow, Allison Holker, is caught in a bitter feud with his family -- but you wouldn’t know it from her IG thirst traps!

Allison dropped a batch of bikini pics Thursday … flaunting her killer figure while soaking up the sun and striking some seriously sizzling poses for the camera.

Allison captioned the pics, "Much needed reset and relax day ☀️", and it’s clear she was doing just that -- looking effortlessly glam with a smile as she soaked up the sun on her beach day.

A teacher from Indiana is facing a series of child sex abuse charges ... and, she allegedly had a very specific sexual scenario she asked the children to act out using replicas of the killers' masks from the "Scream" movie franchise.

Brittany Fortinberry, a 31-year-old former teacher at Eminence High School, is facing a slew of charges -- including child molestation, sexual misconduct with a minor, dissemination of matter harmful to minors, and more -- for allegedly sexually abusing multiple children she met at two different schools last year.

A new court document goes into detail about the alleged sexual activity ... including an incident described as a "gangbang."

A woman in Indiana was arrested after she and her two kids allegedly beat up a student ... and, the fight was seemingly caught on shocking video.

Latea Hentz -- a 36-year-old mother -- and her teenage son and daughter are accused of hopping on a school bus to throw hands with an 8th-grade student they claim was bullying the son.

Watch the clip ... the three people in the vid -- identified by local outlets as Hentz, her 17-year-old daughter and her 13-year-old son -- throw punch after punch at this other student. One person in the fray screams at this kid to never touch her son again.

Conor McGregor is going full send with his political ambitions ... announcing on social media he's running for president in Ireland.

The UFC superstar explained his reasoning behind the run on Thursday ... saying he wants to give the people of his country a proper voice in its future.

The biggest issue?? The proposed EU Migration Pact ... which shouldn't come as a surprise, considering McGregor used his recent visit with President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss his problems with immigration.