Blake Lively vs. YouTuber: Subpoena Sparks Ironic Financial Twist
The Great YouTube Drama: Blake Lively vs. Kassidy O'Connell
In a shocking turn of events, a small-time YouTuber has fired back at Blake Lively's legal team after the actress subpoenaed her bank details, accusing Lively and her lawyer of pursuing "desperate and paranoid" tactics.
Kassidy O'Connell, a 16,000-subscriber-strong YouTube personality, is taking on Hollywood star Blake Lively in an ongoing battle that has left many scratching their heads. The drama began when Lively sent a legal demand to Google for the financial and personal records of 16 YouTubers earlier this month, claiming they were paid by her ex-co-star Justin Baldoni to smear her online.
But O'Connell is having none of it. In a fiery response filed on Friday, she accused Lively of trying to prove an imaginary smear campaign against her, stating that the only money she has received is from ads on her videos featuring Ryan Reynolds, Lively's husband.
"Ms. Lively, who still cannot accept that the criticism against her online is completely organic and of her own making, has made yet another move guaranteed to make matters far worse for her reputation by lashing out at content creators on social media," O'Connell wrote in the filing published on the docket Friday.
O'Connell, who makes videos dissecting court documents in celebrity cases and prominent criminal prosecutions, claims that Lively's legal team is attempting to intimidate and silence her, as well as other YouTubers, by issuing sweeping subpoenas that are an invasion of privacy.
"I'm not monetized. No ads. No sponsors. No donations. Just over 2,400 followers. Zero dollars made," wrote O'Connell, who has already been the victim of a stalker and sexual assault, adding that she is terrified Lively will leak her private information, putting her in harm's way.
In an ironic twist, it appears that O'Connell has been making money from ads on her videos featuring Ryan Reynolds, a fact that she highlights as evidence that Lively's legal team is trying to prove an imaginary smear campaign against her.
O'Connell also accused Lively's big law firm, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, of making a procedural mistake that invalidates their subpoena. She claims that the subpoena was issued from New York, not Northern California, where it should have been routed through the nearest court to be valid.
The YouTuber also noted that Lively's legal team referred to Reynolds as a "party" to the case, although he has already been dismissed from involvement by the judge. This, O'Connell claims, raises serious concerns about the misuse of a legal process to delay litigation and intimidate critics.
In her complaint against Manatt attorney Esra Hudson to the California State Bar for "issuing an improper subpoena," O'Connell wrote that Hudson's office denied issuing the subpoena on three separate occasions, which raises serious concerns under the rules of professional honesty and truthfulness.
"This is a desperate attempt by Ms. Lively's legal team to delay this lawsuit and silence me through intimidation," O'Connell said in an interview with thescholarlynote.com.
New York federal Judge Lewis Liman has responded to O'Connell's initial submission by issuing an order on Wednesday afternoon saying that she must either refile under her real name or submit additional legal arguments explaining why she should remain anonymous.
The drama has left many wondering what really happened behind the scenes of It Ends With Us, a domestic violence drama film starring Lively and Reynolds. Did Baldoni hire influencers to smear Lively? Or was it all just a coincidence?
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