Who is Steve Sarowitz, who’s named in Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni? The billionaire funder behind It Ends with Us claimed the Gossip Girl actress was spreading ‘vicious lies’
Sarowitz co-founded Wayfarer with Baldoni, and Lively’s complaint stated that Sarowitz gave ‘input and ideas on ways to negatively influence the narrative’ against her
Sarowitz – who is a billionaire and co-founder of Wayfarer Studios with Baldoni – responded for the first time about the situation by telling Forbes that “the actual harassment and smear campaign both occurred and continues to occur against us”. He added that Lively was spreading “vicious lies about my business partners”.
Lawyer Bryan Freedman, who is also representing Baldoni, shared that Sarowitz was “barely involved with the film besides providing its funding, only visited the set twice and was not involved in the PR for the film”.
Lively’s legal team released a statement in response to Forbes’ report. The statement read: “While we go through the legal process, we urge everyone to remember that sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry. A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to ‘blame the victim’ by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied. We will continue to prosecute her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats.”
Here’s what we know about Steve Sarowitz.