Ryan Reynolds asks court to drop him from ‘predator’ Justin Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit | Hollywood News

Actor Ryan Reynolds has filed a motion to dismiss actor-filmmaker Justin Baldoni’s $400 million defamation lawsuit against him. The Deadpool star’s legal team argues—how can it be defamation if Reynolds genuinely believes Baldoni engaged in predatory behaviour? Baldoni in his lawsuit, filed in January against Reynolds, Lively and the New York Times, accused the Hollywood star of privately calling him a “sexual predator” and pressuring their shared agency, WME, to drop him.
Baldoni’s lawsuit came after Lively accused him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a public smear campaign against her. The Gossip Girl star also accused her co-star of creating a ‘hostile working environment’ on the set.
Also read: Justin Baldoni refuses to drop Blake Lively’s public from the lawsuit, accuses her of making him a ‘scapegoat’
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Reynolds said that his comments were personal opinions, “protected the First Amendment.” His lawyers argue there’s no solid evidence he made any defamatory statements. In a court filing, acquired THR, Reynolds’ attorney, Michael Gottlieb, writes that Baldoni’s lawsuit “does not allege any plausible facts that would remotely suggest, let alone establish, that anyone interpreted Mr Reynolds’ statements as reflecting anything other than his genuinely held belief about Mr Baldoni’s character.”
So far, both sides have accused each other of orchestrating smear campaigns. Baldoni in his lawsuit claimed extortion, defamation, and breach of contract. In Tuesday’s filing, Reynolds maintains he has the right to criticise Baldoni, especially if he believed he had sexually harassed his wife. To back this up, Reynolds is filing points to Baldoni’s own statements. For example, the actor/director admitted during a podcast that he may have crossed boundaries in his younger years due to his exposure to pornography. “I’m sure I have crossed boundaries and lines in my teens and twenties not even thinking about it simply because of the porn I was consuming,” Baldoni reportedly said. 
Also read: Blake Lively’s team responds to Justin Baldoni’s video from the sets of It Ends With Us: ‘Every moment of this was improvised with no discussion or consent in advance’
“The absence of these details makes it impossible, for example, to determine whether this statements falls within the applicable one-year statute of limitations for defamation,” Gottlieb claimed. In the filing the Adam Project star admitted he shared “deep disdain” for Baldoni during the alleged conversation.Story continues below this ad
Reynolds’ legal team also fired back at the extortion claim. Gottlieb argued that while Baldoni and his team accused Reynolds of extortion, they failed to mention any money or property he supposedly received. They also claimed that Reynolds interfered with a contract—but don’t specify which contract, what terms were allegedly broken, or who was even involved.
“They’re demanding $400 million in damages without explaining who suffered the loss, how much, or what supposedly caused it,” Gottlieb pointed out. In a joint statement, Gottlieb and Reynolds’ other attorney, Esra Hudson, said Reynolds has a “First Amendment right to express his opinion.” They added that if Baldoni wants to win his defamation case, he’ll need to prove Reynolds didn’t actually believe what he said about Baldoni being a “predator.”