Justin Baldoni issues stinging retort after Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ Hollywood agent mocked his name

Justin Baldoni has issued a stinging retort to the Hollywood power agent of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds who also dropped the major bombshell that he was the one to ‘fire’ It Ends With Us star amid the lawsuit and ongoing drama surrounding the film.

Ari Emanuel –  who is the chief executive of WME’s parent company Endeavor – appeared on a live taping of the Freakonomics podcast where he talked about his personal relationship with Lively, 37, and Reynolds, 48, days after it was revealed that she had subpoenaed cell carriers to look for more receipts in her ongoing legal battle.

During the live interview held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, Emanuel made fun of Baldoni’s, 41, last name as he referred to him as ‘bologna’ during the show and now the actor has hit back.

Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told DailyMail.com on Friday: ‘Mr. Ari Emanuel is notably one of the best agents, and clearly the most loyal, in Hollywood.

‘As I understand it, Justin hasn’t been called “Bologna” since the fifth grade. Perhaps Ari’s perspective would be different if they had ever met in the half decade they were clients of his agency.’

Baldoni had been dropped from WME on December 21 which was the same day that it was reported that Lively had sued him for sexual harassment and accused him of running a smear campaign against her.

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Justin Baldoni (pictured in LA back in December) has issued a stinging retort to the Hollywood power agent of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds who also dropped the major bombshell that he was the one to ‘fire’ It Ends With Us star amid the lawsuit and ongoing drama surrounding the film

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Lively and Reynolds are pictured in New York back in August

Emanuel boldly revealed during the taping ‘I fired him’ regarding Baldoni and pledged his allegiance to Lively and Reynolds as he said: ‘I am a ride-or-die.’

Earlier in the podcast the American businessman from Chicago gushed about working with the power couple for over a decade as he called them ‘really incredible people.’

Emanuel said: ‘They’ve never had any bad mojo out there or treated people badly.’

He also explained that if everything that Lively alleges in her lawsuit is true then those involved are ‘really bad people.’

Emanuel continued talking about Lively and Reynolds as he said: ‘These are good people who have been in the business for decades and have never had any bad press about them. And all the people they’ve worked with like them.’

This comes days after it was revealed that Lively had sent subpoenas to cell carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon as she looks for more ‘receipts’ amid her ongoing legal battle with Justin Baldoni.

Lively is seeking proof that Baldoni — who directed and co-starred with her in the romantic drama — orchestrated a smear campaign against her.

Her lawyers also sent subpoenas to two internet providers, Cloudflare and AOL, as well as to Jed Wallace, a crisis consultant accused of launching a ‘digital army’ against the actress on Baldoni’s behalf.

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Ari Emanuel – who is the chief executive of WME’s parent company Endeavor – appeared on a live taping of the Freakonomics podcast where he talked about his personal relationship with Lively, 37, and Reynolds, 48, where he referred to Baldoni as ‘bologna’

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Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman (pictured in New York earlier this month) told DailyMail.com on Friday: ‘Mr. Ari Emanuel is notably one of the best agents, and clearly the most loyal, in Hollywood. ‘As I understand it, Justin hasn’t been called “Bologna” since the fifth grade. Perhaps Ari’s perspective would be different if they had ever met in the half decade they were clients of his agency’

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Earlier in the podcast the American businessman from Chicago Emanuel gushed about working with the power couple for over a decade as he called them ‘really incredible people, as he said: ‘They’ve never had any bad mojo out there or treated people badly’

Wallace has denied the allegations and recently filed a $7 million defamation suit against Lively.

‘Ms. Lively has initiated discovery that will expose the people, tactics, and methods that have worked to “destroy” and “bury” her reputation and family over the past year,’ her attorneys, Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, shared with Deadline on Wednesday.

‘We will now receive all of the “receipts” that, unsurprisingly, are nowhere to be found on Mr. Freedman’s website, and like Ms. Lively, those “receipts” will have their day in court,’ they added, in reference to Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, and the website thelawsuitinfo.com, outlining Baldoni’s version of events.

Speaking of well-known PR guru, Jed, Lively’s spokesperson stated, ‘We look forward to investigating more about Jed Wallace’s entire business model and what else he was doing to distract from the very real sexual harassment and retaliation claims made by Ms. Lively.’

‘We are delighted to be able to start discovery on it,’ the spokesperson added.

Her rep also noted that Wallace’s involvement was detailed in messages the team had already obtained, where Baldoni’s team allegedly gloated about how easily the public was swayed to dislike her.

In December 2024, Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign against her.

The New York Times published text messages Lively cited as evidence. Baldoni responded by claiming the published messages were incomplete and released what he alleged were the full exchanges in a lawsuit against the NYT in early January.

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This comes days after it was reported that Lively sent subpoenas to cell carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon as she looks for more ‘receipts’ amid her ongoing legal battle with Baldoni; Pictured 2023

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The It Ends With Us star, 37, is seeking proof that Baldoni — who directed and co-starred with her in the romantic drama — orchestrated a smear campaign against her; Pictured 2024

Further messages were included in a subsequent lawsuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds.

Earlier this month, the filmmaker published a website that his legal team alleged had all of the ‘receipts’ for his and Lively’s court battle.

Lively alleges that Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios hired Crisis PR chief Melissa Nathan to discredit any accusations she might make about his behavior on the set of It Ends With Us.

Her TAG firm allegedly then employed Wallace to run an online smear campaign against Lively, damaging her reputation and the launch of her new product line.

Nathan and publicist Jennifer Abel acknowledged planning a strategy for their client, but claim they never implemented it because public opinion turned against Lively organically.