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Ryan Reynolds has filed a motion to dismiss Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation lawsuit against him stemming from the “It Ends With Us” director’s feud with Blake Lively.
Baldoni, 41, sued Reynolds, 48, and Reynolds’ wife, Lively, 37, in January following the actress’ own legal action against the “Jane the Virgin” alum, in which she accused him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a public smear campaign against her.
In his defamation suit, Baldoni accused Reynolds of privately calling him a “sexual predator” and working to get Baldoni’s talent agency — WME — to drop him.
However, Reynolds’ lawyers, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, told The Post on Tuesday that the “Deadpool & Wolverine” star could not have defamed Baldoni because “Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator.”
“The entirety of Mr. Baldoni’s case appears to be based on Mr. Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator,’ but here is 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.
“The complaint doesn’t allege that, and just the opposite, the allegations in the complaint suggest that Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator. Mr. Reynolds’ wife has accused Mr. Baldoni — privately and in multiple complaints — of sexual harassment and retaliation, and as pointed out by Mr. Reynolds’ motion, Mr. Baldoni has also openly spoken about his past of mistreating women and pushing the boundaries of consent.”
The attorneys added, “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.”
A spokesperson for Reynolds also blasted Baldoni and criticized his character, telling The Post that the “Free Guy” star is the man Baldoni is “pretending to be.”
“The claims filed against Mr. Reynolds are simply a list of grievances attempting to shame Mr. Reynolds 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,” they said.
“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,” the representative added, referring to the billionaire businessman who helped fund Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, which produced “It Ends With Us.”
In Reynolds’ legal filing, his lawyers insist he should not be dragged into Baldoni’s legal battle with his wife.
“So what does Ryan Reynolds have to do with that, legally speaking, other than being a supportive spouse who has witnessed firsthand the emotional, reputational, and financial devastation Ms. Lively has suffered? Nothing,” they write.
“Mr. Reynolds is a defendant in this action for one reason, and one reason only: because billionaire Plaintiff Steve Sarowitz promised to spend up to $100 million to ‘ruin’ Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds.”
Reynolds’ attorneys also allege Baldoni and Sarowitz’s defamation suit (aka First Amendment Complaint or FAC) “seeks to fulfill that promise” by using legal filings to disseminate “hundreds of paragraphs of clickbait, designed for an audience other than this Court, with virtually no bearing on cognizable legal claims.”
They continue, “[T]he FAC is a pleading, not a gossip rag, and these so-called ‘receipts’ fail to establish the requisite elements of a single one of the many causes of action alleged against Mr. Reynolds.”
The “Definitely, Maybe” actor’s team also claims Baldoni’s defamation suit doesn’t make clear who was defamed, what specifically was said, or how anyone suffered actual harm.
As for the $400 million in damages that Baldoni and his associates are seeking, attorneys for Reynolds write in their filing that the “It Ends With Us” star doesn’t explain “anything about who suffered that loss, in what proportion, as a result of which claims, or what proximately caused such losses.”
Baldoni’s lawsuit “is long on hyperbole, prose, and ‘claims,’ but devoid of any facts necessary to state ones recognized by law,” Reynolds’ lawyers add. “It is, in essence, a burn book filled with grievances attempting to shame Mr. Reynolds for being the kind of man who is ‘confident enough to listen’ to the woman in his life and to hold her ‘anguish and actually’ stand with her,” they write, quoting past comments made by Baldoni.
Representatives for Baldoni did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Lively sued Baldoni in December for $250 million, claiming he sexually harassed her while filming “It Ends With Us,” an adaptation of Colleen Hover’s bestselling novel of the same name. The “Gossip Girl” alum also accused Baldoni and his publicists of orchestrating a smear campaign against her when she spoke out about his alleged misconduct.
Baldoni has denied her accusations and, along with his publicists, filed their countersuit against Lively and Reynolds for defamation and extortion. The couple repeatedly denied Baldoni’s allegations.