Blake Lively's Publicist Accuses Justin Baldoni of 'Egregious Sexual Harassment of Multiple Employees' in New Motion

Blake Lively's publicist, Leslie Sloane, claimed Justin Baldoni harassed several of his employees in a filing requesting that she be removed from the It Ends With Us director's bombshell $400 million lawsuit.

She argued she was "dragged" into the legal drama as a "smoke and mirrors exercise to distract" from Baldoni's own alleged "sexual harassment and systematic retaliation."

In the new motion filed on Thursday, February 20, Sloane's legal team claimed Baldoni's lawsuit sought to "discredit and blame his victims and punish anyone who speaks out against him."

It also called the 41-year-old's advocacy for feminism over the years "sheer hypocrisy" and accused him of "egregious sexual harassment of multiple employees," according to Page Six.

Sloane's lawyers further claimed there was no "basis" for Baldoni's allegations that Sloane had planted "malicious stories" or assisted in a "smear campaign" against him.

The motion then defended the Gossip Girl star, calling the director's accusations that Lively tried to take control of the film following creative issues "irrelevant and tellingly sexist."

"Because Ms. Lively — an executive producer on the film — dared to offer input on the script, wardrobe and editing, Baldoni blasts her as 'tyrannical' and 'aggressive,' among other coded terms," the filing read, per People.

"When Ms. Lively bravely spoke up about Baldoni’s predatory behavior, he and his team used every weapon in their arsenal to blame, embarrass and silence her, going so far as to hire a crisis PR manager who promised to 'bury' Ms. Lively and 'destroy' her life," the motion added.

As OK! previously reported, Baldoni sued Sloane, her PR firm, Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, for $400 million on allegations of civil extortion, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, intentional interference with contractual relations, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage and negligent interference with prospective economic advantage.

Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, released a statement declaring the lawsuit was filed "based on an overwhelming amount of untampered evidence detailing Blake Lively and her team’s duplicitous attempt to destroy Justin Baldoni, his team and their respective companies by disseminating grossly edited, unsubstantiated, new and doctored information to the media."

As their court battle continues, Baldoni's team has also released unedited footage from the set of It Ends With Us, voice messages sent to Lively and other text messages related to the case in an effort to clear his name of the allegations.