Blake Lively Takes Surprising Step In Justin Baldoni Battle, Drops Subpoenas

Blake Lively has taken a surprising step in her ongoing legal war with Justin Baldoni, pulling back subpoenas that had targeted three independent content creators who covered her case.

The dispute stems from Blake Lively’s explosive lawsuit against Baldoni, her former "It Ends With Us" co-star and director, in which she accused him of sexual harassment and retaliation.

According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, the "Gossip Girl" alum informed the court on July 26 that her legal team would no longer pursue subpoenas issued to YouTubers Kassidy O’Connell, McKenzie Folks, and Lauren Neidigh.

According to TMZ, Lively’s legal team suspects that they may have been working in tandem with Baldoni’s camp to damage her reputation. The trio, all of whom have sizeable online followings, have openly discussed the lawsuit across their platforms, frequently casting Baldoni in a sympathetic light while portraying Lively less favorably.

Attorneys argue that this alignment suggests a coordinated effort to sway public perception in Baldoni’s favor.

The move came just days after the trio asked the judge to step in and block the requests.

The subpoenas, originally sent to Google and X (formerly Twitter), sought personal data from the creators, including sensitive information such as credit card and banking details. The move sparked immediate backlash.

“There is no evidence or sound legal basis whatsoever to have issued this subpoena in the first place,” O’Connell wrote in her filing, calling the effort a “witch hunt for discovery.”

Neidigh echoed the outrage, slamming Lively’s team for trying to “harass” and “intimidate” small creators, describing the subpoena as “unduly burdensome.”

In a letter to the judge, Lively’s attorneys confirmed the subpoenas against those three individuals had been withdrawn.

“Based on the Third-Parties’ representations made in meet and confers, public statements, and/or information provided in their moving papers, there is no further information required from the Subpoenas as to these specific Third-Parties at this time,” her legal team wrote.

However, they also made it clear that this was not a total retreat. The broader investigation into what Lively has described as an orchestrated smear campaign by Baldoni’s camp is still underway.

As part of her legal strategy, Lively’s team is digging into what they claim was a deliberate digital campaign to discredit her.

The court filings cite a text message allegedly tied to Baldoni’s PR representatives that detailed plans for an “untraceable” media push designed to “bury” Lively’s reputation.

Her spokesperson defended the subpoenas in a statement to Us Weekly, stressing:

“Subpoenas are not accusations of wrongdoing. They are tools for gathering admissible evidence in federal court. There is no silencing of content creators, they are obviously making their views known. This is a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against Justin Baldoni and a number of other Wayfarer defendants and we are simply seeking information to aid in our fact gathering.”

They added:

“Remember [Baldoni’s crisis PR rep’s] own words: to shield Justin Baldoni from the possibility that Blake Lively might publicly reveal he sexually harassed her and others, [Baldoni’s rep] planned an ‘untraceable’ media campaign designed to ‘bury’ Ms. Lively. The subpoenas to social media companies are one piece of the puzzle to connect the evidentiary dots of a campaign that was designed to leave no fingerprints.”

While the subpoenas to O’Connell, Folks, and Neidigh are now off the table, Lively’s lawyers have also targeted other outspoken critics, including Perez Hilton and Candace Owens, as they continue to build their case.

Blake Lively first filed her lawsuit in December 2024, accusing Justin Baldoni of sexually harassing her during the filming of "It Ends With Us," where the pair portrayed romantic leads. In response, Baldoni launched a staggering $400 million countersuit, claiming that Lively and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, schemed to strip him of creative control over the project.

But in a major legal victory for the "Gossip Girl" alum, a federal judge recently dismissed Baldoni’s countersuit in its entirety, narrowing the focus of the ongoing case back to Lively’s original claims of harassment and retaliation.

Lively’s scheduled deposition, which was set for July 31, has now been delayed, meaning she will not be questioned by Baldoni’s attorneys on that date.

The case is officially slated to head to trial on March 9, 2026, where both sides will finally have their day in court.