Ryan Reynolds has been accused of having a dig at Justin Baldoni in Deadpool & Wolverine.
In case you've dodged the drama, a dispute began when Blake Lively, 37, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baldoni, 40, alleging inappropriate behavior on the set of their film, It Ends with Us.
The former Gossip Girl star claimed Baldoni’s actions necessitated a meeting with production staff, crew, and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, to address the alleged misconduct.
According to court documents, Lively outlined specific protective measures for her continued participation in the film, including: “no more improvising of kissing” and “no more personal, physical touching of, or sexual comments by Mr. Baldoni or Mr. Heath to be tolerated by [Blake Lively] and/or any of her employees, as well as any female cast or crew without their express consent.”
Additional stipulations included prohibitions against adding sex scenes, oral sex depictions, or on-camera climaxing outside the script Lively had approved.
The lawsuit alleges these measures were agreed upon by Baldoni and the filmmakers.
Lively also accused Baldoni of orchestrating a "social manipulation" campaign to damage her reputation following the film's release.
Shortly after Lively’s lawsuit, Baldoni launched his own legal counterattack, including a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.
Baldoni’s legal team alleges the publication relied on Lively’s “unverified and self-serving narrative” without adequately investigating the claims.
“The claims the Times relied almost entirely on Lively’s unverified and self-serving narrative,” reports The Independent, further claiming that the newspaper “cherry-picked” text messages to present a misleading narrative.
Well, given that Ryan Reynolds is married to Lively, people have accused him of taking a shot at Baldoni in his latest movie.
Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman has accused Reynolds of using his influence to parody Baldoni in Deadpool & Wolverine.
The film, shot concurrently with It Ends with Us, reportedly features a character named “Nicepool,” who bears traits Freedman claims are intended to mock Baldoni.
Appearing on The Megyn Kelly Show on Tuesday, Freedman stated: “What Ryan Reynolds has seemingly done is use his power and influence … on Deadpool to make fun of Justin Baldoni.”
Kelly played a clip from the film showing Nicepool, portrayed by Reynolds, as a man-bun-wearing, self-proclaimed feminist who makes inappropriate comments about Lively’s character, Ladypool, and her pregnancy.
In the scene, Nicepool says: “Oh my goodness, wait til you've seen Ladypool. She is gorgeous. She just had a baby too and (you) can't even tell.” Deadpool responds: “I don't think you're supposed to say that,” to which Nicepool replies: “That's okay, I identify as a feminist.”
Freedman argued that the Nicepool character was a clear jab at Baldoni, who is publicly known as a feminist and delivered a TED Talk in 2017 on the subject.
“There’s no question it relates to Justin,” Freedman said. “I mean anybody that can watch that – the hair bun, you know, the comment about the pregnancy – it’s pretty obvious what’s being done.”
Freedman criticized Reynolds’ approach, saying: “If your wife is sexually harassed, you don’t make fun of Justin Baldoni; you don’t make fun of the situation – you take it very seriously.”
He further accused Reynolds of undermining Lively’s claims through humor, adding: “What you don’t do is mock the person and turn it into a joke.”
Freedman hinted that Reynolds may face legal repercussions for his involvement, stating that the actor would “for sure” be named in a lawsuit over It Ends With Us.
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