Bill Maher compares Musk-Trump feud to Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni legal drama

Lively is famously embroiled in a bitter legal battle with her ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star and director Justin Baldoni

Bill Maher has waded in on the rift that has emerged between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, comparing it to Blake Lively’s headline-grabbing, It Ends With Us legal drama.

Musk and Trump’s close relationship imploded this week as the tech mogul, after resigning from his White House role, publicly denounced the president’s flagship spending bill and accused him of ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

The fallout was always going to be top of the order for Real Time with Bill Maher.

“When you think about it, the richest man in the world and the most powerful man in the world, it’s like Godzilla versus King Kong, if Godzilla was on ketamine and King Kong had a comb over,” the comedian said on Friday’s episode.

He then joked that the two were “so close, it was like Brangelina or Bennifer,” referencing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s respective former relationships.

Bill Maher joked that the ‘winner’ of Trump vs Musk would have to face Blake Lively (HBO; Getty Images)

“They had their couple name: E-lump,” Maher quipped.

Maher went on to joke that the stakes of the feud were “so high because the winner faces Blake Lively.”

Lively is famously embroiled in a bitter legal battle with her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni.

The actors are involved in several legal actions related to her claim that the director sexually harassed her during production of their film, and his claim that she and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, attempted to destroy his career.

It was reported on Tuesday that Lewis Liman, the judge who is overseeing the lawsuit, has decided that Lively’s claims for emotional distress would be thrown out.

The decision is thought to be a response to attempts by Baldoni’s legal team to obtain Lively’s medical records, including therapy notes and other health details, as part of the discovery process.

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Esra Hudson and Mike Gottlieb, two of Lively’s lawyers, called the filing from Baldoni’s team “a press stunt”.

They told Variety in a statement: “The Baldoni-Wayfarer strategy of filing retaliatory claims has exposed them to expansive new damages claims under California law, rendering certain of Ms Lively’s original claims no longer necessary. Ms Lively continues to allege emotional distress, as part of numerous other claims in her lawsuit, such as sexual harassment and retaliation, and massive additional compensatory damages on all of her claims.”

Last month, Baldoni’s team withdrew a subpoena that would have called on Taylor Swift to testify in the trial, which is scheduled to begin on March 9, 2026.