Ryan Reynolds’ Team Slams ‘Predator’ Justin Baldoni In $400 Million Defamation Lawsuit; Say, “Reynolds Has A Right To…”

In recent updates of It Ends With Us lawsuit, Ryan Reynolds calls director Justin Baldoni a predator in private conversations.

Ryan Reynolds Calls Justin Baldoni A Predator Amid Lawsuit

Reynolds’ attorneys, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, argue that such statements do not meet the legal standards for defamation. As reported by People, “The entirety of Mr. Baldoni’s case appears to be based on Mr. Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator,’ but here’s the problem — that is not defamation unless they can show that Mr. Reynolds did not believe that statement to be true,” Gottlieb and Hudson said in a statement. “The complaint doesn’t allege that. In fact, it suggests the opposite: that Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator.”

In January, Justin Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Ryan Reynolds, Lively, their publicist Leslie Sloane, and Sloane’s PR firm, Vision PR, Inc., regarding a heated situation related to the film It Ends With Us. As part of Reynolds’ motion to dismiss, his legal team also cited allegations made by Lively, 37, who has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and retaliation in multiple complaints.

“Mr. Reynolds has a First Amendment right to express his opinion of Mr. Baldoni, which should be comforting to a group of people who have repeatedly called Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds ‘bullies’ and other names over the past year,” Gottlieb and Hudson added.

Blake Lively’s Lawsuit

On February 18, Lively submitted an updated version of her original lawsuit from December 2024, asserting that two unnamed female co-stars from It Ends With Us would testify about Baldoni’s allegedly inappropriate behaviour on set. Baldoni’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, described the amended complaint as “underwhelming” and filled with “unsubstantiated hearsay” from individuals who do not wish to publicly support Lively’s claims.

Ryan Reynolds Dismisses Justin Baldoni’s Lawsuit

A spokesperson for Reynolds dismissed Baldoni’s lawsuit as an attempt to go after the actor for living the very values Baldoni claims to stand for. “The claims filed against Mr. Reynolds are simply a list of grievances attempting to shame him for being the man Mr. Baldoni has built his brand pretending to be — a man who is ‘confident enough to listen’ to the woman in his life,” the statement reads.

Adding further, “We look forward to this lawsuit being dismissed and to collecting on Steve Sarowitz’s $100 million pledge by recovering Mr. Reynolds’ costs and attorneys’ fees incurred to toss this frivolous case.”

Recent Updates On The Defamation Lawsuit

Both Lively’s and Baldoni’s attorneys opted out of “inappropriate” and “premature” pre-trial mediation in February. Currently, cases in Lively v. Wayfarer Studios and others are set to go to trial in March 2026. Furthermore, Reynolds’ motion alleges that billionaire Steve Sarowitz, a plaintiff in the suit, promised up to “$100 million to ruin Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds.”

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