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Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds break cover as Justin Baldoni fights 'invasive' subpoena in legal drama

16 February 2025 at 18:45

Blake Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds stepped out publicly for the first time in more than two months as they waded deeper into a legal back-and-forth with her "It Ends With Us" co-star and director, Justin Baldoni.

Lively, 37, and Reynolds were on hand at The Crane Club in New York City to celebrate Chris Rock's 60th birthday, and they posed for a photo with legendary comedian Chevy Chase in images shared on Instagram Sunday.

The following night, Lively and Reynolds, 48, made their first red carpet appearance in months for the "Saturday Night Live" 50th anniversary show at Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center.

The Hollywood power couple has remained relatively low profile since Lively filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni, 41, in December. Her legal team last week initiated discovery to subpoena his phone records, only for Baldoni's lawyers to accuse the "Gossip Girl" actress of acting as the "FBI" in requesting the "broad, invasive, and atypical" subpoena in a motion filed Friday.  

BLAKE LIVELY VS JUSTIN BALDONI: EVERYTHING TO KNOW

"Jay and I went The Crane Club downtown to join the celebrations for @chrisrock 's 60th Birthday, hosted by @guyoseary," Chase captioned the snap with Lively and Reynolds. "So much talent! Such funny and nice guys! Made me miss my dear friend, Richard Pryor. He should’ve been there."

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Chase shared photos with Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Steven Spielberg, Bill Murray, David Spade and a number of the "Saturday Night Live" cast members in town for the show's 50th anniversary special.

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Social media fans took umbrage with Chase's photo selection, with users chastising the "Caddyshack" star's carousel choices. 

"Did you hire an intimacy coordinator for that picture with Blake? Hope you recorded everything in case you get sued," one user wrote. 

BLAKE LIVELY AND JUSTIN BALDONI REFUSE MEDIATION, SHOW NO SIGN OF SETTLING LAWSUIT

"Blake Lively?! Ryan Reynolds? Fire your social media person," another fan wrote. "This shows you support the Hollywood Bullies. The ones trying to crush the small guy." 

Another fan simply wrote, "So many legends! I wouldn’t know where to look!"

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While Lively and Reynolds haven't been spotted together since Dec. 3, their court battle with Baldoni continues on. Their legal team last week subpoenaed Baldoni's phone records and others involved in the courtroom showdown over an alleged plot to ruin the actress' reputation. Lively accused Baldoni of setting out on a smear campaign after allegedly sexually harassing the "Gossip Girl" star on the set of "It Ends With Us."

On Friday, his legal team filed its own motion for a discovery dispute concerning a "flagrantly overbroad" subpoena served by Lively and Reynolds, in documents obtained by Fox News Digital. Baldoni's lawyers claimed the "Lively Parties" are seeking information over a period of multiple years dating back to Dec. 2022. 

"It is hard to overstate how broad, invasive, and atypical these Subpoenas truly are," the motion stated. "This is civil litigation, not a criminal prosecution, and the Lively Parties are not the FBI. Yet the Subpoenas seek not only the complete call and text history of each of the targets over a period of several years (no matter the sender, recipient, or subject matter) but also, over the same period, real-time location information and data logs reflecting, among other things, web browsing history."

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Baldoni's lawyers claim the information sought by the subpoena is "wildly disproportionate to the needs of the case and unnecessarily invades the privacy of untold numbers of third parties, including family, friends, business partners, and—quite literally—any other person with whom any of the targets have communicated with over a period of years."

Lively detailed allegations of sexual harassment, retaliation, intentional affliction of emotional distress, negligence and more made by Baldoni and film producer Jamey Heath in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights department on Dec. 20 and later in federal court on Dec. 31.

The same day Lively filed her federal suit, Baldoni filed a $250 million suit against the New York Times for a December article about the alleged smear campaign Baldoni attempted to run against his co-star.

Weeks later, Baldoni then named Lively and Reynolds in a separate $400 million defamation lawsuit in which he accused the Hollywood power couple of attempting to hijack "It Ends With Us" and create their own narrative.

'Modern Family' star was a 'tyrant' on film set, co-star claims

16 February 2025 at 16:36

"Modern Family" star Sarah Hyland was allegedly "rude to everyone" on the set of a film, according to her co-star.

Comedian Jeff Dye appeared on "The George Janko Show" podcast last week, sharing his side of his interactions with Hyland on the set of the 2019 film, "The Wedding Year."

Dye acknowledged his role in the film was small, but in his time on set, he claimed Hyland was "such a tyrant" and "rude to everyone."

He described the actress as a "pretty woman who chain-smokes and is terrible."

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According to Dye, Hyland complained that extras were at the craft services table, "like she was annoyed that some extras wanted some f---ing free granola bars … like it was in her kitchen or something."

The 42-year-old comedian also says that Hyland "hated" him and told him directly, "You’re what is wrong with people."

In Dye’s opinion, part of the issue is that he is "an actual man. She’s not used to ever masculine energy of any sort."

Fox News Digital reached out to Hyland’s representatives for comment.

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Dye said another run-in occurred when the 34-year-old allegedly wanted to show members of the cast and crew the trailer for the live-action "Dumbo" movie on her phone.

"They’re all in this hierarchy of Hollywood where it’s like, she’s No. 1 on the call sheet, [so] we have to, like, pander to her. If she’s mean to us, just let her be mean to us, and if she’s sad, pretend like it’s OK that she’s sad, but she was a tyrant, she literally was a terrible person" he said. 

Dye claimed that Hyland started crying while showing the trailer, "letting us know how moved she is," he noted. 

By his own admission, Dye said he wanted to "ruin the moment," so he replied, "That looks gay," adding he "didn’t even mean it."

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"I ruined her little showpiece of, like, 'Look how much I’m into the arts that I’m moved by ‘Dumbo.’"

"She thinks she’s so important, and this is, like, the whole industry," Dye said.

Host George Janko asked, "How do we know that it’s not you that rubs her the wrong way?"

In Dye’s opinion, he said he saw "the way she was behaving with everyone" and claimed he spoke with other people on set asking if they also thought she was "mean," to which they agreed.

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He concluded he wasn’t concerned about badmouthing Hyland and potentially losing work.

"Don’t care at all," he said, "I’m just being honest," as he complimented director Robert Luketic and actress Anna Camp, who played his partner in the film.

Dye had previously called out his ex-girlfriend, Kristin Cavallari, who he said exploited his 2023 DUI arrest "for clicks."

On the "Smoochie Town with Marco DelVecchio" podcast, Dye said Cavallari had explained that she shared the story because it was an experience she had. He was with her when he was arrested. 

"Interesting," he said, "because, you know, when we were dating, I had a billion experiences with you that I didn't just go share. I had experiences with you that I didn't go tell everyone. Those were also my experiences when you were f---ing off with all these other people."

Christian faith and its remarkable depths displayed in new film 'The 21'

16 February 2025 at 10:27

A heart-wrenching new film recounts the beheadings 10 years ago this week of 21 Coptic Christians at the hands of ISIS radicals.   

Yet the film, simply titled "The 21," also tells the poignant story of the martyrs' incredible faith, how they were diligent to the end — never once denying their Savior even unto death.

Producer Mandi Hart said, "I don't know that I'll ever get over imagining, in the course of 40-some-odd days of captivity, how many nanoseconds of opportunity they had to save their own lives. And to a man, all 21 of them were true to the end."

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Hart and the team at MORE Productions presented the 13-minute film at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C., last week. It was a jolting reminder of how the events of Feb. 15, 2015, shocked the world — one, for the sheer horror of its staging, and two, because the Islamic radicals filmed the brutal slayings.

As a way to soften the horror and enhance the spirit of hope, "The 21" tells the story through animation — intercut with actual ISIS propaganda footage. 

But it's the imagery of the animation that gives it greater impact. The animation is in the style of Orthodox iconography — the paintings of the saints and of Jesus that adorn the iconostas, the screens in front of the altar, on the nave, the sanctuary and the dome of every Orthodox church in the world.  

Hart said, "We knew that we wanted a project that would reflect the cultural distinctiveness of the Coptic tradition, particularly its iconography."  

She called out its "function," as well as its architecture and community — and "the symbolism, colors, shapes and the way that iconography was actually all about creating an icon."

On a recent episode of "Lighthouse Faith" podcast, producer Mandi Hart spoke more about the making of "The 21" — and the transformative power of learning about what these men endured for their faith.

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They were simple laborers from Egypt, working in Libya, when ISIS members kidnapped them and demanded they denounce their faith in Jesus Christ, the only condition to secure their freedom. 

The men refused. For a month and a half, the men were tortured and abused. Then they were put in orange jumpsuits and paraded to a sandy hill where masked, knife-wielding radicals lined them up and took their lives.

Hart said the most barbarous part of the story is actually not in the new film. 

"They were actually beheaded one by one," she said. "And ISIS did that, hoping that … being killed in that gruesome way would persuade at least one of the men to recant, to save themselves by denying Christ. And none of them did. And actually one of the men asked to be the last one."  

Hart added with emotion, "There are no words [about] the depth of [their] faith. And it's been extremely challenging and convicting personally, too. I can't imagine myself in that position — and the fact that all of them were true to the end is just remarkable."

Hart purposely did not view the ISIS footage of the beheadings. It was just too much to take. But director Tod Polson did.

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He told Fox News, "The original video made by ISIS is surreal. I’ve only seen it once but …[it is] forever burned into my memory. It’s as heartbreaking as it is inspiring. Inspiring because the sacrifice of the martyrs is so total. It’s one thing to talk about their faithfulness. It’s another to see it demonstrated close up." 

Polson also said, "Many of the martyrs' families play the original ISIS video in their homes on a loop. One of the complaints they have is that ‘The 21’ isn’t violent enough. They want people outside their community to know what their men went through."

ISIS filmed their abomination for the purpose of propaganda and power, believing they would usher in a new caliphate for the glory of Islam.  

But transcripts from interviews of ISIS members conducted by authorities revealed that there were other supernatural powers also at work on that sandy hill. 

This is new information.

Said Hart, "In the interviews with the former ISIS members, one in particular talks about earthquakes. He talks about shadowy figures being seen and some of the figures bearing swords, others dressed in certain ways accompanying the martyrs, particularly when the martyrs were on the beach."

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The film depicts those supernatural occurrences. 

The shadowy figures appear as angels of light, perhaps even Jesus Himself. 

On that sandy beach a decade ago, those men may have witnessed God’s holy army and the forces of Satan in their ancient battle. 

And at least one member of ISIS was shaken to the core.

Hart said one ISIS member was so terrified by what he saw that he fled. Reports are that he came to faith and was baptized. He remains in hiding, according to Hart.

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The larger story has been the display of the depths of faith of the entire Coptic community. "Coptic" means Egyptian. The Coptic are one of the original Christian Orthodox churches. 

For 2,000 years, they've been a persecuted church. 

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And some scholars, said Hart, think they've had millions of martyrs over the course of their history, past and present. 

The 21 martyrs asked that Jesus forgive their killers — just as Jesus said, while being crucified, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

At a time when it’s more acceptable to publicly profane the name of Jesus than to praise Him, the film shows the power of that name — and how the men relied on it for strength, for hope.

Hart reflected on the greater good that came out of such evil. 

She said the Coptic archbishop of London, Archbishop Angaelos, told her to think about when that former ISIS member who became a believer dies. 

Those 21 Coptic men will welcome him into heaven as their brother — as only in Christ can natural-born enemies become one people.

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