Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has publicly backed actor and director Justin Baldoni in his lawsuit against the New York Times. Weinstein said he sees similarities between Baldoni’s situation and his own past troubles with the newspaper.
From prison, Weinstein released a statement showing support for Baldoni, who is suing the NYT and actress Blake Lively over an article that included accusations of sexual harassment against him. Weinstein told TMZ that he believes the way the NYT treated Baldoni is a lot like how they handled his own case. In 2017, the NYT published a major investigation exposing multiple accusations of sexual harassment and assault against Weinstein, which helped start the #MeToo movement.
Baldoni’s legal case against Lively comes from their work together on the 2024 movie It Ends with Us. Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and defamation, while Baldoni fired back with his own lawsuit, claiming that Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, worked together to ruin his reputation. Baldoni argues that the NYT twisted the facts by leaving out important details and changing the way certain communications were presented, making the story misleading for readers.
Harvey Weinstein supports Justin Baldoni
Weinstein says the newspaper intentionally picked only the worst parts to make him look guilty. He claims the newspaper used the same tactics when writing about him—choosing only the details that supported the accusations while ignoring anything that might have made him look less guilty.
According to Weinstein, the problem isn’t just how the NYT reports stories but also the damage that kind of reporting causes. Both Weinstein and Baldoni say the newspaper’s coverage hurt their reputations and played a big part in their legal troubles. This shared experience is why Weinstein is so strongly supporting Baldoni’s lawsuit.
In his statement, Weinstein also admitted he regrets not fighting back harder when the NYT first wrote about him in 2017. He said, “I should have stood up and fought back then. I should have had the courage to speak out against the way the truth was twisted. That failure still haunts me. I’ll be watching this case closely — it matters to anyone who’s ever been on the receiving end of a media takedown, and even more to someone who’s had to pay a high legal price.”
His support for Baldoni now is partly because of that regret. Weinstein’s own legal situation makes his public stance complicated—he’s been convicted of rape and other sex crimes in both Los Angeles and New York, though he won an appeal in New York and is waiting for a new trial. His case shows how damaging bad media coverage can be, especially in high-profile legal battles.
Interestingly, the NYT article about Baldoni and Lively was co-written by Megan Twohey, one of the same journalists who helped break the Weinstein story in 2017. This connection makes Weinstein and Baldoni even more convinced that the newspaper has a pattern of unfair reporting. However, Weinstein was convicted, and many spoke out to back up the claims against him, so it’s hard to say the reporting was untrue.
Published: Apr 9, 2025 11:20 am