Ryan Reynolds asked a court on Tuesday to dismiss Justin Baldoni‘s legal claims against him, saying the actor cannot sue him over “hurt feelings.”
Reynolds, who is married to Blake Lively, was accused in the lawsuit of mocking and bullying Baldoni by using the character of “Nicepool” in “Deadpool & Wolverine” to satirize Baldoni’s “woke feminist” image.
In a motion to dismiss on Tuesday, Reynolds’ lawyers did not dispute that Nicepool is based on Baldoni, but said that Baldoni had shown “thin-skinned outrage” by complaining about it.
Baldoni directed “It Ends With Us,” in which he and Lively co-star. After the film’s successful release last summer, Lively accused Baldoni of sexually harassing her on set, and of using his publicists to try to spread negative stories about her.
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Baldoni countersued her and Reynolds, alleging that they were trying to destroy his career with false allegations. In the lawsuit, Baldoni alleged that Reynolds had berated him for allegedly “fat shaming” Lively.
He also accused Reynolds of calling him a “sexual predator” and of pressuring his agency, WME, to drop him as a client.
In the motion to dismiss, Reynolds’ lawyers argue that that is not defamation if Reynolds genuinely believes it.
The “allegations suggest that Mr. Reynolds genuinely, perhaps passionately, believes that Mr. Baldoni’s behavior is reflective of a ‘predator,'” the motion states. “(T)he law establishes that calling someone a ‘predator’ amounts to constitutionally protected opinion… While Mr. Baldoni ‘may not appreciate being called’ a predator, those hurt feelings do not give rise to legal claims.”
The motion argues that Reynolds was not making a provably false statement of fact, but was merely offering his “unabashed negative opinion of Mr. Baldoni’s character.”
“Mr. Reynolds has a First Amendment right to hold Mr. Baldoni — or any man who Mr. Reynolds believes sexually harassed his wife — in ‘deep disdain,'” the motion states.
The motion alleges that the lawsuit is deficient in many other ways.
“It is, in essence, a burn book filled with grievances attempting to shame Mr. Reynolds for being the kind of man who is ‘confident enough to listen’ to the woman in his life and to hold her ‘anguish and actually’ stand with her,” the complaint states.
Among other things, Reynolds argued that it is “substantially true” that Baldoni is a predator, as Baldoni himself has confessed on podcast appearances to “crossing boundaries” in his younger days due to his addiction to pornography.
“It would be perverse to permit Mr. Baldoni to build an entire brand — complete with a podcast, Ted Talk, and books — off of his confessions of repeatedly mistreating women, only to turn around and sue Mr. Reynolds for $400 million for simply pointing out in private what Mr. Baldoni has bragged about in public,” the motion argues.
In response to Reynolds’ motion to dismiss, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said in a statement, “Mr. Reynolds’ exploitation of his enormous power in Hollywood continues, this time arrogantly asking to be dismissed from the case despite his publicly documented involvement extending far beyond just being a ‘supportive spouse.’ 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. His fingerprints have been all over this smear campaign against Justin and the Wayfarer team since day one.”
Freedman continued, “Mr. Reynolds now attempts to reduce plainly cognizable claims to ‘hurt feelings’, sending a clear message that bullying is acceptable. After lighting a match, Mr. Reynolds now seeks to run from the flames. It won’t work. The Wayfarer Parties’ claims against him are real, and they are serious. 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.”
Baldoni is also suing the New York Times, which published a story based on Lively’s allegations in December, and Leslie Sloane, the publicist for Lively and Reynolds.
