Victoria Burke, the architect of California’s survivor-protection law, has publicly slammed Blake Lively’s legal strategy in her ongoing dispute with ‘It Ends With Us’ director and co-star Justin Baldoni. Reacting to the actress’ latest filing, Burke, in an appearance on ‘The Megyn Kelly Show’, discussed her concerns about the way the law has become part of the high-profile legal battle.In a clip shared by the official handle, Burke was asked ‘Is Blake Lively completely ABUSING the Purpose of California Survivor’s Law in Her Legal Fees Claim?’ To this, she shared, “You nailed it about the concern that most survivors is, a lot of times a defamation lawsuit are used to silence them, because someone who receives it realises that it might take, five, six or seven figures to defend them in multiple years, and it’s always cheaper to go quiet. So the concern was, if you have to go forward and defend it and you prevail, and show that you didn’t have malice, you would recover your attorney’s fees and damages.” “Also the purpose that I believed in was to ask attorneys to take these very difficult cases, and so that has been my main concern with the bill.”Burke, who drafted the legislation, said the law was designed to protect survivors who come forward with allegations of sexual assault, harassment and discrimination. “Never thought my bill would be in the eye of a story with all eyes watching,” she wrote in a statement shared publicly megynkelly.com.Slamming the actress and her team, she added, “As the architect of the bill, I strongly believe in the constitutionality of my bill. Unhappy with it being weaponized as a PR redemption tool by Blake Lively [and] her team. Honestly, I don’t think the judge should grant attorney fees in this matter.”Burke further argued that the focus surrounding the law has shifted away from the survivors it was designed to protect. “I was worried that this was going to become just a PR campaign for her, and it wasn’t going to be about survivors anymore. I didn’t want her to turn my bill into the Met Gala,” she was quoted saying.Lively’s legal battle with Baldoni was back in the news afterthe actress claimed that she suffered retaliation after making sexual harassment claims over the making of their 2024 film ‘It Ends With Us’. Attorney Ellyn Garofalo, representing Baldoni, told U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman that Lively was trying through an application for attorney fees to do “an end run around the jury trial” that was voided when a deal was reached before a May trial was set to start.
