Taylor Swift was nearly implicated in Blake Lively's legal action against her It Ends With Us co-star, Justin Baldoni. In an unexpected turn of events, the actress learned that her close friend of ten years was allegedly linked to the situation, thereby avoiding potential conflict. Recently, the Gossip Girl star initiated a lawsuit against Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and the execution of a smear campaign against her.

Claims against Swift in the lawsuit

On December 20, The New York Times released an exposé detailing allegations of defamatory actions purportedly orchestrated by Baldoni and his associates against Lively. The legal documents reportedly indicated that Swift was specifically referenced in a "scenario planning document" developed by Baldoni’s public relations team at TAG PR, under the direction of crisis communication specialist Melissa Nathan.

The official complaint stated, “The Scenario Planning document indicates that TAG could 'also explore planting stories about the weaponization of feminism and how individuals in [Lively's] circle, such as Taylor Swift, have been accused of employing these tactics to 'bully' their way into achieving their objectives,” as reported by Daily Express US.

In response, Baldoni’s legal representatives have vehemently refuted the allegations, characterizing the lawsuit as “shameful” and the claims as “categorically false accusations.”

PR concerns around Swift’s influence

The legal documents indicated that Baldoni was “not in love” with the proposal put forth by the public relations team and felt unprotected. Consequently, he expressed his concerns to another public relations executive as well as the producer of the film.

Additionally, the document contained messages in which Nathan purportedly referenced Lively’s connections to Swift. It stated, “We have observed that even the most trivial matters can escalate significantly due to social media, while major crises may have little to no impact on social platforms - it is difficult to predict at this point. However, [Lively] does share a portion of [Swift]’s fanbase, so we will approach this matter with utmost seriousness.”

Nathan assured Baldoni that strategies would be developed with careful consideration of Swift’s influence. Meanwhile, a significant shareholder of TAG PR has ties to Scooter Braun, who previously garnered attention for acquiring the rights to the songs of the Blank Space singer, valued at approximately $300 million.

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