Perez Hilton is challenging a subpoena issued by Blake Lively\u2019s legal team in her ongoing lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, her director and costar in the 2024 film It Ends With Us. Yahoo spoke to the celebrity blogger this week ahead of the Thursday hearing where he hopes the court will quash the subpoena, arguing that it will compel him to reveal his sources and other confidential information in Lively\u2019s quest to prove Baldoni ran a smear campaign against her.<\/p>\n
Lively is accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and launching a smear campaign against her<\/a> after she raised concerns on set \u2014 allegations a New York Times expos\u00e9<\/a> revealed in December 2024. Baldoni has denied the claims and accused Lively, as well as her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of attempting to take over his film. Since then, the internet has taken sides \u2014 and Lively has faced intense backlash from Baldoni\u2019s supporters, many of whom allege she\u2019s lying about experiencing sexual harassment. Lively claims the criticism is part of a Baldoni-led smear campaign, while Baldoni\u2019s camp says the backlash is organic.<\/p>\n Hilton is one of the many creators making content that portrays Lively in a negative light. In August, Lively filed court documents accusing Hilton of creating more than 500 disparaging articles and posts about her<\/a> without reaching out to her representatives for her side of the story. Hilton often refers to Lively by derogatory nicknames<\/a>, including \u201cLitigious Lively\u201d and \u201cBlackface Blake,\u201d the latter a reference to a prior scandal the Gossip Girl alum has been associated with<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hilton was subpoenaed<\/a> alongside right-wing internet personality Candace Owens and Andy Signore of Popcorned Planet \u2014 all of whom have portrayed Lively negatively in their coverage. YouTube has also been subpoenaed separately, a spokesperson for Lively confirmed to Yahoo. Hilton told Yahoo that he initially made a positive video about Lively before reading more into the case and changing his mind.<\/p>\n These subpoenas seek contracts, messages and other materials that could reveal if Baldoni\u2019s team was providing information, payment, or direction to these creators.<\/p>\n Hilton, a longtime celebrity blogger whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., told Yahoo that he believes the subpoena is \u201cpayback\u201d for his negative coverage. Hilton argues that, as a journalist, he should not be required to disclose his sources, which he says the subpoena would require him to do.<\/p>\n On Thursday, a Las Vegas court will hear his case. Instead of using his longtime lawyer Bryan Freedman \u2014 who happens to be representing Baldoni in the case against Lively, \u2014 to represent him in court, Hilton is representing himself to save what he said would be more than $50,000 in legal fees.<\/p>\n Hilton told Yahoo over the phone that he believes Nevada state laws<\/a>, and other legal precedent<\/a> should protect him from having to comply with the subpoena as a journalist.<\/p>\n There is no federal law protecting journalists from cooperating with subpoenas, but many state and federal courts have recognized some version of so-called reporter\u2019s privilege,<\/a> which is the view that the First Amendment should, in certain limited circumstances, protect journalists from being forced to reveal confidential sources and other reporting materials in court. According to the Reporter\u2019s Committee for Freedom of the Press<\/a>, courts have historically allowed certain individuals to opt out of testifying in court if they can make the case that the demand for all evidence available would conflict with societal interests.<\/p>\n In addition to his view that he should be protected as a journalist from having to produce documents for this case, Hilton insisted that he was never involved in an alleged smear campaign against Lively.<\/p>\n \u201cI was not part of any retaliatory smear campaign,\u201d Hilton said. \u201cI was not told by anyone to write negative stories about her. I was not paid by anyone to write negative stories about her. I was not promised any favors or anything in exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Lively told Yahoo News of the subpoena: \u201cSubpoenas 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement continued: \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n