Ryan Reynolds requests to be dropped from Justin Baldoni’s lawsuit in wife Blake Lively’s legal battle

Ryan Reynolds, seen here in New York in February, is asking a judge to drop him as a defendant in Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation lawsuit. Caitlin Ochs/Reuters via CNN Newsource

Ryan Reynolds is asking a judge to drop him as a defendant from Justin Baldoni’s US$400 million defamation lawsuit, claiming that Baldoni’s argument against him has no legal bounds and amounts to “hurt feelings.”

The filing – submitted on Tuesday and obtained by CNN – claims that the lawsuit Baldoni filed against Reynolds and wife Blake Lively is based on two times that Reynolds allegedly called Baldoni a “predator,” but that nothing in Baldoni’s suit suggests that Reynolds did not believe this to be true.

“Mr. Reynolds genuinely, perhaps passionately, believes that Mr. Baldoni’s behaviour is reflective of a ‘predator,’” Reynolds’ filing reads, adding that “calling someone a ‘predator’ amounts to a constitutionally protected opinion.”

Reynolds’ lawyers also claim Baldoni’s “thin-skinned outrage over a movie character” – referring to the Nicepool character in Reynolds’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” movie – “does not even pretend to be tied to any legal claims” and instead is just Baldoni alleging that he has “hurt feelings.”

In the motion, attorneys for Lively and Reynolds wrote that while Lively sued Baldoni and his business associates for sexual harassment and subsequent retaliation, Reynolds has nothing to do with the situation and that his only involvement has been as a “supportive spouse.”

Their lawyers claim that Reynolds is only named as a defendant in Baldoni’s suit because Steve Sarowitz – a defendant in Lively’s case against Baldoni and his team, one of Baldoni’s business partners at his production company, Wayfarer Studios, which produced and co-financed “It Ends With Us” with Sony – “promised to spend up to US$100 million to ‘ruin’ Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds,” according to the filing.

In Baldoni’s lawsuit against the Hollywood couple, as well as Lively’s publicist Leslie Sloane (who previously filed her own motion to dismiss, asking to be dropped from the case), Baldoni accused Reynolds of assisting Lively in “hijacking” his film “It Ends With Us” and taking down his career.

He also claimed that Lively sought to take over much of the film’s creative direction, including having Reynolds, who had no formal role on “It Ends With Us,” re-write a scene and make “unauthorized changes to the script in secret.”

Baldoni also accused Reynolds of reprimanding him at the couple’s home in New York, claiming that Reynolds once “swore at Baldoni and accused him of fat-shaming his wife” and alleged in his lawsuit that Reynolds made fun of him in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” mirroring the character Nicepool after Baldoni in an effort to mock him.

Reynolds is also accused of telling an executive at the talent agency WME that Baldoni was a “sexual predator” in an effort to encourage the agency to drop him as a client.

Lively and Reynolds are top-earning clients at WME where Baldoni was previously represented, until the agency dropped him after Lively filed her sexual harassment claim. (WME has denied that Reynolds or Lively encouraged them to part ways with Baldoni, though the agency’s top executive, Ari Emanuel, recently boasted on a podcast about firing Baldoni.)

In a statement provided to CNN on Wednesday, Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, Heath and Wayfarer Studios, said in part, “After lighting a match, Mr. Reynolds now seeks to run from the flames. It won’t work.”

“Mr. Reynolds was a key player in the scheme, defaming Justin around Hollywood, strong-arming WME into dropping Justin as a client, and trying to destroy Justin’s career however possible,” the statement said. “His fingerprints have been all over this smear campaign against Justin and the Wayfarer team since day one. Mr. Reynolds now attempts to reduce plainly cognizable claims to ‘hurt feelings’, sending a clear message that bullying is acceptable.”

“Mr. Reynolds can appear on as many sketch shows as he wants and feebly try to make light of his current situation, but we will not stop until he is held accountable for his actions,” the statement added later, likely referencing Reynolds’ appearance on the special marking the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.”

Reynolds’ attorneys, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, told CNN in a statement that Baldoni’s defamation case is not solid since Reynolds believes that Baldoni is, in fact, a predator.

“Mr. Reynolds has a First Amendment right to express his opinion of Mr. Baldoni, which should be comforting to a group of people who have repeatedly called Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds ‘bullies’ and other names over the past year,” Reynolds’ attorneys said.

A spokesperson for Reynolds added that Baldoni’s case is “frivolous,” telling CNN on Tuesday, “We look forward to this lawsuit being dismissed.”

Both Baldoni and Lively’s attorneys have previously said that they do not intend to settle. The trial is currently set for March 2026. If Reynolds’ motion to dismiss is not granted by the judge, one of Hollywood’s biggest stars could be brought into the legal drama and called to testify in a highly publicized case.

Lively and Baldoni have been in a legal battle since December, when Lively accused him of sexual harassment and retaliation in a complaint first filed with the California Civil Rights Department, preceding a lawsuit that followed about a week later. She filed an amended complaint last month, alleging other women also raised claims about Baldoni’s behaviour on set.

Freedman previously denied the allegations in a statement to CNN. “These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media,” Freedman said.

Article written by Elizabeth Wagmeister and Alli Rosenbloom, CNN