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Podcaster Melanie King weighed in on the latest revelation in Blake Lively's ongoing legal battle, focusing on Taylor Swift's involvement. In a video shared on X on May 15, 2025, King discussed claims that had surfaced, alleging that Blake Lively had "blackmailed and extorted" the pop star, forcing her to go "dark."
"OMG! Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds blackmailed and extorted TAYLOR SWIFT??? In a motion, Justin Baldoni’s team revealed that an ‘undisclosed’ source had informed them of this...Now we know why Taylor has gone dark," King wrote in the caption of her video.
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Melanie King's video commentary further referenced a report published by Deadline on May 14, 2025, which revealed that Justin Baldoni's legal team had submitted a new document against Lively in their court filing. The document was a letter from Bryan Freedman to Judge Lewis Liman outlining a response to Lively's legal team's pushback on subpoenaing Taylor Swift in the lawsuit.
As per the Deadline report, in the letter submitted on Wednesday, May 14, Freedman had argued in favor of the subpoena, alleging that a "source who is highly likely to have reliable information" had informed his team that Blake Lively attempted to pressure Swift.
Melanie King, citing from the letter in her video, read out a key passage where Freedman claimed that:
"Ms. Lively requested that Taylor Swift delete their text messages".
King added that, according to inside sources, these text messages "contained details from over a decade of friendship, relationships, and private confidences" between Blake Lively and Taylor Swift.
What else did Melanie King say about Bryan Freedman's letter supporting Taylor Swift's subpoena in Blake Lively's lawsuit?
In her video, Melanie King highlighted another important aspect of Bryan Freedman's letter supporting Taylor Swift's subpoena in Blake Lively's lawsuit. While Lively and Reynolds were not explicitly accused of blackmail or extortion in legal terms, as King had claimed in her post, the Deadline report (May 14, 2025) noted that Bryan Freedman's letter included a serious allegation:
"Michael Gottlieb of Willkie Farr, counsel for the Lively Defendants, contacted a Venable attorney who represents Ms. Swift and demanded that Ms. Swift release a statement of support for Ms. Lively, intimating that if Swift refused to do so, private text messages of a personal nature in Ms. Lively’s possession would be released.”
King cited Freedman's aforementioned allegation in her video, further elaborating on how, according to Freedman's letter, Swift's representatives had "purportedly addressed Lively's inappropriate and apparently extortionate threats" in at least one written communication sent to Gottlieb.
So, Swift's subpoena was necessary to "obtain" those communications that would act as "evidence" against Lively's "attempt to intimidate and coerce a percipient witness in this litigation."
Melanie King also remarked on the implications of these claims against Lively, whom she dubbed "Blake Khaleesi."
"That’s not the way to treat your 'dragon' [Taylor Swift]. Oh, the Swifties are definitely gonna come for Blake now," she added.
Blake Lively’s legal representatives respond to Bryan Freedman’s letter, stating that the alleged claims against Lively are "completely false"
According to the aforementioned Deadline article, in a rebuttal following Bryan Freedman's controversial legal filing, Blake Lively's legal team pushed back against the claims that allege the actress threatened pop star Taylor Swift.
Lively's leading lawyer, Michael Gottlieb, shared an immediate response, labeling the claims "completely false". In a formal letter to Judge Lewis J. Liman, Lively's legal representatives—Willkie Farr & Gallagher and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips—moved to have Freedman's letter removed from the docket.
"On behalf of our client, Blake Lively, we respectfully move to strike the letter signed by Mr. Bryan Freedman and filed earlier today," Manatt attorney Esra Hudson wrote.
Hudson further condemned Freedman's filing as a blatant attempt "to launder scandalous and defamatory allegations about Ms. Lively and opposing counsel into the press."
In his letter, he explained that the core of Freedman's claim centered on an alleged incident in which Lively supposedly threatened Taylor Swift, an assertion made without evidentiary support.
"It should be unnecessary to respond to anonymously sourced, baseless allegations recklessly leveled without any supporting evidence… It is worth stating for the record, however, that each of the allegations in the Freedman Letter is unequivocally and demonstrably false," Hudson added in his filing.
For context, Blake Lively is involved in an escalating multi-case lawsuit with It Ends With Us co-star Justin Baldoni. The legal battle began when Lively accused Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against her. In response, Baldoni filed a defamation suit against the actress.
Though Taylor Swift was not a direct party in the case, her name emerged in court documents submitted (by Baldoni's legal team, where Lively referred to her in a private message as one of her "Dragons," prompting Freedman to seek Swift's subpoena (as per Daily Mail)
Blake Lively's lawsuit is now in the pretrial stage, with proceedings scheduled for trial on March 9, 2026. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift is currently spending time away from the spotlight with her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce.
