Ryan Reynolds filed a motion to dismiss Justin Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against the actor Tuesday.
Reynolds was included in the lawsuit Baldoni filed against Blake Lively, accusing the two of civil extortion, defamation and more.
The “Deadpool” star’s legal team claimed “the entirety of [Baldoni’s] defamation claim appears to be based on two times that Mr. Reynolds allegedly called Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator.’”
“But, the FAC [First Amended Complaint] alleges no plausible facts that suggest Mr. Reynolds did not believe this comment to be true; instead, the relevant FAC allegations suggest that Mr. Reynolds genuinely, perhaps passionately, believes that Mr. Baldoni’s behavior is reflective of a ‘predator,’” the documents, obtained by Fox News Digital, stated.
“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,” Reynolds’ lawyers, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“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. 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.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives for Baldoni for comment.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
