Justin Baldoni Said Men ‘Want to Be Better’ Before Blake Lively Lawsuit

Justin Baldoni spoke out about believing that men “want to be better” months before Blake Lively accused him of sexual harassment.

While speaking exclusively with Us Weekly in October, Baldoni, 40, said that while men are “the driving force of all crime,” their behavior is “a cry for help.”

“This is not because men are bad men. I believe that there is a cry for help. There’s a cry for community right now. We want to be good men. We want to be better men,” the actor told Us at the time. “What I’ve learned is that men are awesome. What I’ve learned is that every man I meet wants to be a good man and a better man. That men are not trash, that men are not to be labeled this thing, but we as men have to do a better job supporting other men and creating safe spaces for them.”

Baldoni made the comments while discussing his podcast “Man Enough,” which “explores what it means to be a man today and how rigid gender roles have affected all people,” per the podcast’s website. He told Us that he had intentionally “made an effort” not to use the phrase “toxic masculinity” when discussing men on his podcast.

“The reason why is because it’s one of those phrases that’s been politicized, and you lose a bunch of people. In my experience, a word isn’t worth it. If 50 percent of the people will not hear my message because of a phrase, then I won’t [use it],” he explained.

Lively, 37, filed a lawsuit on Friday, December 20, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign to damage her reputation. In the legal filing, Lively claimed that a meeting was held to address her claims that there was a “hostile work environment” on the set of the film It Ends With Us, which Baldoni directed and starred in alongside Lively.

Related: Breaking Down Blake Lively’s Accusations Against Justin Baldoni

Months after a reported rift between It Ends With Us costars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, she sued him for sexual harassment. In the lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, December 20, and obtained by Us Weekly after it was reported on by TMZ and The New York Times, Lively accused Baldoni of launching a […]

Some of Lively’s demands for the meeting included “no more showing nude videos or images of women to Blake, no more mention of Baldoni’s alleged previous ‘pornography addiction,’ no more discussions about sexual conquests in front of Blake and others, no further mentions of cast and crew’s genitalia, no more inquiries about Blake’s weight, and no further mention of Blake’s dead father.”

Lively also alleged in the lawsuit that Baldoni improvised unwanted kissing for the film, which hit theaters in August.

“Mr. Baldoni improvised physical intimacy that had not been rehearsed, choreographed, or discussed with Ms. Lively, with no intimacy coordinator involved,” the court documents state. “For instance, Mr. Baldoni discreetly bit and sucked on Ms. Lively’s lower lip during a scene in which he improvised numerous kisses on each take. Mr. Baldoni insisted on shooting the full scene over and over again, well beyond what would have been required on an ordinary set, and without advance notice or consent.”

Related: Blake Lively Claims Justin Baldoni Texted About Ruining Her Reputation

Blake Lively is claiming that It Ends With Us costar and director Justin Baldoni allegedly conducted a “social manipulation” campaign to damage her reputation. News broke on Saturday, December 21, that Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, 40, for sexual harassment. Per The New York Times, the lawsuit — which was filed on Friday, December 20 — […]

The suit also includes text messages and emails which Lively obtained through a subpoena. The text messages allegedly show that Baldoni worked with a crisis PR team to prevent stories about his behavior and boost negative stories about Lively. In one message allegedly sent on August 2, a publicist working with Baldoni wrote to a crisis management expert, “He wants to feel like she can be buried.”

Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman called the suit’s claims “completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious” in a statement shared with Us, claiming that Lively filed the lawsuit to “fix her negative reputation” and “rehash a narrative” about the film’s production.

Lively, meanwhile, said in a statement to The New York Times, “I hope that my legal action helps pull back the curtain on these sinister retaliatory tactics to harm people who speak up about misconduct and helps protect others who may be targeted.”