It Ends With Us row: Ryan Reynolds says Justin Baldoni can't sue him over 'hurt feelings'

It End With Us controversy escalates as Ryan Reynolds aims to dismiss actor-director Justin Baldoni’s defamation suit against him

The murky waters surrounding the It Ends With Us (2024) sexual harassment controversy are getting murkier. On March 18, Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds asked a court to dismiss actor-director Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation and extortion suit against him, his actor-wife Blake Lively, the New York Times, and Vision PR’s Leslie Sloane. The Deadpool star said that Baldoni cannot sue him over “hurt feelings.”

A memorandum of law filed by Reynolds’ attorney says, “The entirety of Plaintiffs’ defamation claim appears to be based on two times that Mr Reynolds allegedly called Mr Baldoni a ‘predator.’ But, the FAC alleges no plausible facts that suggest Mr Reynolds did not believe this comment to be true.”
For context, Baldoni accused Reynolds of bullying him by satirising his “woke feminist” image through the character of Nicepool in Deadpool & Wolverine. Baldoni had sent a notice to Disney CEO Bob Iger, Marvel President Kevin Feige, and director Tim Miller on January 7, demanding they preserve documents related to the development of Nicepool.

Meanwhile, while Reynolds’ attorneys didn’t dispute the claims, they claimed Baldoni was showing “thin-skinned outrage” by complaining about it. Baldoni had also accused Reynolds of calling him a “sexual predator”, and of pressuring his agency WME to drop him. As per Variety, Reynolds’ lawyers argued that this wouldn’t amount to defamation since Reynolds has reason to believe that Baldoni is a ‘predator.’ “The allegations suggest that Mr Reynolds genuinely, perhaps passionately, believes that Mr Baldoni’s behaviour is reflective of a ‘predator’. The 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,” reads the motion, adding that Reynolds was merely offering his “opinion”.

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