Ryan Reynolds blasts Justin Baldoni as a predator as he files to dismiss It Ends With Us directors $400M defamation suit
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 his wife, Blake Lively.Baldoni, 41, sued Reynolds, 48, and 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 his talent agency — WME — to drop him.However, Reynolds’ lawyers, Michael 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,” the lawyers continued.
“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.”Gottlieb and Hudson 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 t...