Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer Accuses Ryan Reynolds of Trying to ‘Run from the Flames’ in Asking to Be Dismissed from Lawsuit

Ryan Reynolds’ lawyers argued Justin Baldoni’s complaints against Reynolds do not qualify as defamation in a new court filing

Justin Baldoni; Ryan Reynolds. Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock; Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstoc

Justin Baldoni’s lawyer is calling out Ryan Reynolds after the Deadpool actor moved to dismiss Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit against him.

After Reynolds, 48, filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni’s complaint on Tuesday, March 18, arguing that Baldoni’s claims of defamation have no legal merit, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman responded in a statement saying Reynolds is “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,” Freedman said, arguing that Reynolds’ “fingerprints have been all over this smear campaign against Justin and the Wayfarer team since day one.”

“Mr. Reynolds now attempts to reduce plainly cognizable claims to ‘hurt feelings,’ sending a clear message that bullying is acceptable,” he added. “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.”

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Justin Baldoni; Ryan Reynolds.Gregory Pace/Shutterstock; Taylor Hill/Getty

Baldoni, 41, initially filed a $400 million defamation lawsuit against Reynolds, his wife Blake Lively, their publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR firm Vision PR Inc. over behind-the-scenes issues during the production of It Ends With Us in January.

Reynolds’ attorneys Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson said in a statement on March 18 that Baldoni’s case against Reynolds “appears to be based on Mr. Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator.’ “

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“But here’s the problem — that is not defamation unless they can show that Mr. Reynolds did not believe that statement to be true,” the statement continues. “The complaint doesn’t allege that. In fact, it suggests the opposite: that Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator.”

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Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds on July 22, 2024; Justin Baldoni on Aug. 6, 2024.Taylor Hill/WireImage; John Nacion/Variety via Getty

Gottlieb and Hudson additionally cited the First Amendment while saying that Reynolds has the 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.”

Lively initially filed a complaint in December 2024 against Baldoni, It Ends With Us producer Jamey Heath and Heath and Baldoni’s production company Wayfarer Studios, as well as its co-founder Steve Sarowitz, claiming sєxual harassment and an alleged retaliatory public smear campaign to “destroy” her reputation.

Attorneys for both Lively and Baldoni opted out of “inappropriate” and “premature” pre-trial mediation in February; both cases in Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al. are currently scheduled to go to trial in March 2026.