Justin Baldoni’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, has reacted to Ryan Reynolds’s joke about his wife Blake Lively’s lawsuit with her It Ends With Us co-star on Saturday Night Live.
The entertainment lawyer addressed Reynolds and Lively’s cameo on the SNL 50 special during Monday’s episode of Hot Mics with Bill Bush. Freedman confessed he was shocked to see Reynolds make light of how he and his wife are in the headlines amid their ongoing legal battle with Baldoni.
“I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation,” he told Bill Bush. “I can’t think of anyone who’s done anything like that. So it surprised me.”
The Independent has contacted representatives for Lively and Reynolds for comment.
After walking the red carpet at the event in New York City on Sunday, both Reynolds and Lively were a part of the celebrity audience at SNL 50. During one segment of the special, comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler answered questions from the audience, including one from Reynolds.
After he stood up, they asked: “Ryan Reynolds! How’s it going?” to which the Deadpool star replied: “Great! Why, what have you heard?” Poehler and Fey quickly shook their heads in response and said they’d only heard “cool” and “great stuff” about him.
Lively, who was sitting next to him, was smiling away when Reynolds first stood up. However, when her husband alluded to their legal problems, she suddenly looked at him in shock in what was clearly a planned comedy bit.
The crowd laughed in surprise at the quip and, moments later, Lively was smiling again.
Freedman also revealed that Baldoni is currently in Hawaii with his wife, Emily Baldoni, and their two children: Maiya, nine, and Maxwell, seven — but he wouldn’t call it a vacation.
“I don’t think anybody who has been accused of heinous, arguably what are crimes, is on vacation,” Freedman said. “I think that he is trying to gather with his family and get some semblance of peace.”
Rumors of a feud between Baldoni and Lively on the set of It Ends with Us – based on the Collen Hoover book of the same name — started percolating online last summer, as they appeared to avoid each other during the film’s promotional tour. Lively was called out for a “tone-deaf” approach to the movie, with fans claiming she failed to treat its heavy subject matter with the appropriate solemnity.
In December, Lively sued Baldoni for sexual harassment and claimed he created a campaign to “destroy” her reputation. The lawsuit also alleges that the backlash Lively received was part of a carefully orchestrated effort by Baldoni’s PR team, whose lawyers have counter-alleged that Lively’s lawsuit is likewise an attempt to “fix her negative reputation.”
The Jane the Virgin alum is suing The New York Times for $250 million, and he is countersuing Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds for $400 million. The lawsuit against the couple alleges that they’re attempting to “destroy” Baldoni’s reputation and career.
In January, a New York federal judge informed both parties to prepare for a trial in March 2026. After this, Lively and Reynold’s attorneys filed a notice stating that they would seek to dismiss Baldoni’s counter-lawsuit.
Days before the first court hearing on the case, Baldoni’s team launched a website containing two legal documents about the dispute with Lively. The documents feature an amendment claiming that the New York Times had access to Lively’s lawsuit against him at least 11 days before they published their report. The newspaper said that the filings were “rife with inaccuracies.”
Lively’s legal team has since reportedly sent subpoenas to the three major US phone companies AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, requesting Baldoni’s phone records, according to US Weekly.
Freedman responded to the subpoenas, telling US Weekly that while “subpoenas are an ordinary part of the litigation,” it’s the extent of what Lively’s lawyers are seeking that is “extraordinary.”
“They are asking for every single call, text, data log, and even real-time location information for the past 2.5 years, regardless of the sender, recipient, or subject matter,” he said. “This massive fishing expedition demonstrates that they are desperately seeking any factual basis for their provably false claims. They will find none.”
