Confused About What Taylor Swift’s Subpoena Means in the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni Case? Here’s the Deal

News of Taylor Being Subpoenaed Broke on May 9

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are in the middle of a legal dispute regarding It Ends With Us, and now Taylor Swift has been subpoenaed by Justin’s legal team as part of his $400 million defamation countersuit against Blake and Ryan Reynolds.

If you’re new here/feeling overwhelmed, here’s what we know about the subpoena and how Taylor has responded.

TMZ dropped a report that said “sources with direct knowledge” had confirmed that Justin’s attorney Bryan Freedman “subpoenaed Taylor as a witness in the Lively-Baldoni legal war.”

Taylor Swift’s Spokesperson Released a Statement Calling the Subpoena Tabloid Clickbait

“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,” they said, per CNN.

“The connection Taylor had to this film was permitting the use of one song, ‘My Tears Ricochet,’” they added. “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.”

Blake’s Rep Then Released a Statement About Taylor Being Subpoenaed

“Mr. Baldoni, Mr. Sarowitz, and team continue to turn a case of sexual harassment and retaliation into entertainment for the tabloids, going as far as suggesting that they sell tickets to a concert venue—Madison Square Garden—to witness Ms. Lively’s deposition, to subpoenaing Taylor Swift, a woman who has given a voice to millions all over the world,” the rep said, per People.

“This is a very serious legal matter, not Barnum & Bailey’s Circus,” the statement continued. “The defendants continue to publicly intimidate, bully, shame and attack women’s rights and reputations. Including in the past month seeking to strike down for all, a powerful California victims’ rights law, calling it ‘unconstitutional.’ The disturbing actions by a billionaire, men who made their careers as ‘female allies’ and their team continue to show their true colors.”

Justin Baldoni’s Legal Team Accused Blake’s Lawyers of Trying to Extort Taylor Swift

Justin Baldoni’s team claimed—per the Hollywood Reporter—that Blake’s lawyers reached out to the law firm representing Taylor and “demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively, intimating that, if Ms. Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature” would be made public.

A letter filed by Bryan Freedman in court on May 14 claims Taylor “addressed these inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats” and Freedman’s team is now seeking those alleged communications.

In response, Blake’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb said, “We unequivocally deny all of these so-called allegations, which are cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality. This is what we have come to expect from the Wayfarer parties’ lawyers, who appear to love nothing more than shooting first, without any evidence, and with no care for the people they are harming in the process. We will imminently file motions with the court to hold these attorneys accountable for their misconduct here.”

A Judge Then Threw Out the Claims

Per People, Judge Lewis J. Liman struck the letter and affidavit, and called it "improper" and saying that "counsel is advised that future misuse of the Court’s docket may be met with sanctions."

Meanwhile, Blake's rep released a statement saying "It took the court less than 24 hours to see through Mr. Freedman’s irrelevant, improper and inflammatory accusations, strike them, remove them from the court and warn Mr. Freedman that further misconduct may be met with sanctions."

Blake Lively Files a Motion for Sanctions

On Monday, May 19, Blake Lively's team filed a motion in court, asking that sanctions be brought against Justin and his lawyer Bryan Freedman. Her motion claimed that the Taylor Swift subpoena was an “obvious” tactic to “seed harassing media narratives against Ms. Lively,” per TheWrap.

Justin Baldoni Dropped the Subpoena

Just a few weeks after filing the subpoena, Justin officially dropped it on Thursday, May 22. “We are pleased that Justin Baldoni and Wayfarer Parties have withdrawn their harassing subpoenas to Taylor Swift and her law firm,” a spokesperson for Lively told TheWrap. “We supported the efforts of Taylor's team to quash these inappropriate subpoenas directed to her counsel and we will continue to stand up for any third party who is unjustly harassed or threatened in the process.”

The statement continued, “The Baldoni and Wayfarer team have tried to put Taylor Swift, a woman who has been an inspiration for tens of millions across the globe, at the center of this case since day one. Exploiting Taylor Swift's celebrity was the original plan in Melissa Nathan's scenario planning document, and it continues to this day. Faced with having to justify themselves in federal court, they folded. At some point they will run out of distractions from the actual claims of sexual harassment and retaliation they are facing.”

The trial in the case is set for March 2026.