On Tuesday, Ryan Reynolds submitted a motion to dismiss the $400 million lawsuit filed by Justin Baldoni against him and Blake Lively. In the legal documents, Reynolds' team contended that the director of It Ends With Us lacks grounds to sue the Deadpool actor based on “hurt feelings.” The filing further asserts that the 48-year-old actor referred to the filmmaker as a “predator” because he sincerely believed that to be the case.

Ryan Reynolds says Justin Baldoni can't sue him over ‘hurt feelings’, files motion to dismiss It Ends With Us star's lawsuit

The First Amended Complaint (FAC) does not present any credible evidence indicating that Mr. Reynolds doubted the truth of his statement; rather, the allegations within the FAC imply that Mr. Reynolds sincerely, and possibly fervently, believes that Mr. Baldoni's conduct is indicative of a 'predator,' as stated in court documents reported by Fox News.

After the successful release of It Ends With Us last year, Lively initiated a lawsuit against her co-star, Baldoni, claiming he sexually harassed her on set and orchestrated a smear campaign to tarnish her public image. In response, the 41-year-old actor filed a countersuit for defamation against her and Reynolds.

Baldoni's legal representatives alleged in his lawsuit that Ryan Reynolds utilized the Deadpool character “Nicepool” to ridicule him, accusing him of fat-shaming Lively and labeling him a “sexual predator.” However, in a motion submitted on Tuesday, the attorneys for Free Guy argued that it does not constitute defamation if Reynolds genuinely believed Baldoni to be a predator.

“The foundation of Mr. Baldoni’s case seems to rest on Mr. Reynolds allegedly referring to him as a ‘predator’ in private. The issue is that this does not qualify as defamation unless it can be demonstrated that Mr. Reynolds did not hold that belief,” stated Reynolds' attorneys, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, in a communication to the media.

While Reynolds' filing did not dispute his use of “Nicepool” to mock Baldoni, it contended that Baldoni's “overly sensitive reaction to a fictional character, the satirical ‘woke’ Nicepool, does not even attempt to connect to any legitimate legal claims,” according to court documents obtained by TheWrap.

The motion further asserts, “it falls under the general claim of ‘hurt feelings’ in the [First Amended Complaint], which is essentially a desperate attempt to promote the same curated ‘bully’ narrative that the Wayfarer Parties created and propagated in their retaliation campaign against Ms. Lively in August of 2024,” as noted in the documents.

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