Blake Lively Calls Out Justin Baldoni’s It Ends With Us Raw Footage: ‘The Video Itself Is Damning’

As part of the ongoing legal/publicity battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, on January 21, Baldoni’s team released raw footage from the set of It Ends With Us that they said corroborates Baldoni’s version of events. But hours later, Lively’s lawyers released a statement arguing that the footage actually backs up Lively.

The two-minute clip that was published by TMZ shows Baldoni and Lively filming a dialogue-free slow dance scene, where you can hear the actors making conversation while shooting. At one point, Baldoni nuzzles Lively’s neck and apologizes for his beard. Lively jokes that she’s probably getting her fake tan on him. “It smells good,” Baldoni can be heard saying in the clip. “Well, it’s not that. It’s my body makeup,” Lively replies.

While Baldoni’s team has argued that this proves that there was no harassment, Lively’s team argues that “every frame” corroborates Lively’s assertion that there was. “The video itself is damning,” Lively’s lawyers say.

“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. Every moment of this was improvised by Mr. Baldoni with no discussion or consent in advance, and no intimacy coordinator present,” wrote Lively’s lawyers in their statement, per People.

The statement continues, “Mr. Baldoni was not only Ms. Lively’s costar, but the director, the head of studio and Ms. Lively’s boss. The video shows Ms. Lively leaning away and repeatedly asking for the characters to just talk. Any woman who has been inappropriately touched in the workplace will recognize Ms. Lively’s discomfort.”

Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni seemed to reference this scene in particular, alleging that during the dance scene Baldoni “leaned forward and slowly dragged his lips from her ear and down her neck as he said, ‘It smells so good.’”