It ends with us, but about that commission…

Right before the Christmas break in 2024, WME dropped Justin Baldoni as a client after Blake Lively accused him of sexual harassment in a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department.

Nearly two years later, the agency is quietly trying to extract a commission on Baldoni’s backend earnings tied to the hit movie “It Ends With Us.” Sources say WME is trying to collect a sum in the mid-to-high six figure range, with Courtney Braun, the agency’s general counsel, spearheading the effort. 

WME said in a statement: “As a matter of policy, we pursue all unpaid commissions from current and former clients. Additionally, we do not discuss details of these private matters.” A rep for Baldoni didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The move has raised eyebrows around town even among industry figures sympathetic to Lively, whose sexual harassment claims were dismissed by a federal judge in April, paving the way for an anticlimactic legal settlement between Baldoni and Lively one month later, with no money changing hands.

It’s common for agencies to seek unpaid commissions from past clients, but sources say the sensational Baldoni case was different, with WME publicly backing another client, Lively. 

“WME not only fired him, [they picked] a side before anything was decided in a court,” the source said. “How do you fire a client publicly, then make fun of him publicly and then try to collect commissions from him after you f–ked him over like that?” The irate insider even opined that the actions seemed like a breach of fiduciary duty.

WME Group executive chairman Ari Emanuel certainly appeared to be mocking Baldoni when he said on “Freakonomics Radio Live” in 2025: “It is a f–ked up, bad situation with what Bologna … Baldoni … whatever his name is … is doing.”

After a judge tossed Lively’s sexual harassment claims in April — presumably the reason WME dropped the actor-director in the first place — the agency released a statement that appeared to be taking another shot at Baldoni. “Even as others have tried to turn this case into a spectacle, [Lively] has kept the focus where it belongs: on facts, accountability, and the right to speak up without fear of retaliation.”

The commissions drama comes at a time when rivals are gleefully noting other instances of WME’s Emanuel failing to back the firm’s clients publicly when they face controversy. On a Sept. 21 episode of “The Daily Show,” Emanuel defended Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft’s decision to pressure Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore from the tour after the rapper led a “Free Palestine” chant during an earlier MetLife Stadium performance.

“I think it was belittling to Jewish people,” Emanuel told host Jon Stewart.

The heated exchange became parlor talk in Hollywood’s representation circles given that Macklemore is a WME client, and Kraft is presumably not. WME reps the “Thrift Shop” star in North America, but not internationally. Emanuel famously gifted the billionaire with a puppy for his 80th birthday in 2021.

“It was rough,” says one rep who was aghast at the fact that Emanuel took the side of a client’s adversary, regardless of political bent.

That sentiment was echoed by a former Emanuel colleague from the Endeavor days: “I don’t know why Ari is still allowed to be an agent. It’s incomprehensible how the guilds have let this go unregulated,” says the colleague.

(Agency insiders insist Emanuel is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of WME, ever since he transitioned to executive chairman from CEO of Endeavor when the company went private in March 2025. But he remains an agent for big-name clients such as Martin Scorsese, Larry David, BFF Pete Berg and Mark Wahlberg.)

On an Oct. 9 episode of Megyn Kelly’s podcast, Emanuel did no favors for another WME client, Meghan Markle, who he once personally represented before offloading her to other agents. He said he is “happy” that colleagues are now taking care of her and noted she is “actually getting booked.” (When asked about Markle’s career trajectory, Emanuel told the U.K. Sunday Times, “Here’s the great thing: I don’t have to think about that anymore.”)

It all serves as spicy soundbites for an uber-agent aggressively promoting his best-selling memoir “Roll the Calls” and cosplaying as Ari Gold. But he can’t blame his unfiltered persona solely on the book tour. Emanuel has a history of trash-talking former clients.

In 2006, he dropped and publicly eviscerated Mel Gibson after reports emerged that the actor-director shouted “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world” during a 2006 DUI arrest. Though the star client apologized, Emanuel publicly called on the entertainment industry to “professionally shun Mel Gibson and refuse to work with him.”

Meanwhile, some agent purists thought UTA didn’t do enough for its client Mark Ruffalo when the Creative Community for Peace called on Hollywood to refuse to work with the actor following his social media posts that appeared to conflate the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger with support for Israel and the IDF. 

The agency neither released a statement in support of its embattled client nor cut ties with him, which was an awkward stance considering that an influential group was determined to make the Marvel star client unemployable, and Ruffalo wasn’t apologizing. 

But partner Jay Sures gave Ruffalo a halfhearted endorsement during the Jewish American Summit, saying he was satisfied that the actor isn’t antisemitic, according to reports in Puck and the Jewish Journal. 

Either way, a limp endorsement is better than being thrown under the bus by one’s agency, sources scoff.