LONDON – Taylor Swift will be deposed in the ongoing civil litigation between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, according to a court filing submitted by Baldoni’s lawyers. Swift has agreed to be deposed in the case but is unable to do so prior to October 20, due prior professional commitments, a letter from Baldoni’s legal team, filed with the court and obtained Friday by CNN, states. CNN has reached out to representatives for Swift, Baldoni and Lively for comment. While Baldoni’s suit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds was dismissed, Lively is still pursuing her claims of sexual harassment and retaliation against her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star. Swift – a longtime friend of Lively’s was first mentioned in connection to the dispute when text exchanges were revealed to include the name “Taylor” as part of Baldoni’s since-dismissed countersuit. One of the text messages included in Baldoni’s suit appears to show an exchange between Baldoni and Lively about the script for the film: “I really love what you did. It really does help a lot. Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor),” Baldoni wrote with a wink emoji. “You really are a talent across the board. Really excited and grateful to do this together.” Swift received a subpeona in the case in May. “Taylor Swift never set foot on the set of this movie, she was not involved in any casting or creative decisions, she did not score the film, she never saw an edit or made any notes on the film, she did not even see ‘It Ends With Us’ until weeks after its public release, and was traveling around the globe during 2023 and 2024,” a spokesperson for Swift said at the time.
“The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, ‘My Tears Ricochet.’ Given that her involvement was licensing a song for the film, which 19 other artists also did, this document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift’s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case,” the spokesperson added. Trial in the case is set for next spring in federal court in New York.
