Justin Baldoni's Lawyer Claims Blake Lively's Husband Ryan Reynolds Based 'Deadpool & Wolverine' Role on His Client
Jan. 9 2025, Published 6:00 p.m. ET
Justin Baldoni's lawyer has made a stunning claim about Blake Lively's husband Ryan Reynolds.
RadarOnline.com can reveal attorney Bryan Freedman accused Reynolds of throwing shade at his client with the Nicepool character in his hit film Deadpool & Wolverine.
Viewers speculated the character's "pseudo-nice guy" persona was inspired by Lively's It Ends With Us co-star, who she has accused of sexual harassment in a bombshell lawsuit.
Freedman made the accusation during an appearance on Megyn Kelly's SiriusXM show, The Megyn Kelly Show.
Kelly, 54, played a clip from the move which sparked the discussion.
During the scene Reynolds, 48, introduces the alternate version of his character, Nicepool, who has to portray himself as ultra-positive in order to conceal his vile behavior.
Interestingly enough, Lively, 37, also stars in the film as Ladypool and is featured in the clip.
Nicepool tells Reynold's character and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine: "In here, everybody calls me Nicepool. Oh my goodness, wait 'till you see Ladypool. She is gorgeous."
He then adds, "She just had a baby too, and you can't even tell," a line some viewers saw as a jab referencing some of the accusations against Baldoni, 40.
Court documents revealed Lively felt fat-shamed after Baldoni, who has back issues, asked a trainer on how he could "safely perform" a scene in which he lifted the actress, who recently had her fourth child with Reynolds.
When Reynolds' character tells Nicepool, "I don’t think you can say that," the alternate Deadpool quips back: "That's okay, I identify as a feminist."
After the clip played, Freedman told the former news host: "What I make of that, is that if your wife is sexually harassed, you don't make fun of Justin Baldoni.
"There's no question it relates to Justin.
"I mean, anybody that watched that hair bun — if somebody is seriously sexually harassed, you don’t make fun of it. It's a serious issue."
Serious issues were raised in Lively's explosive filing.
The Gossip Girl alum claimed Baldoni, who directed and starred in the film, created a toxic work environment – and launched a smear campaign against her amid the movie's press tour.
In her lawsuit, Lively included screenshots of text message conversations between Baldoni, PR manager Melissa Nathan and publicist Jennifer Abel, which appear to be discussing tactics agains the actress.
At one point in the conversation, Nathan said she could "bury anyone," in addition to Baldoni sending screenshots of social media posts against other actresses, to which he noted: "This is what we would need."
In addition to the alleged smear campaign, Lively alleged Baldoni improvised physical intimacy on screen, entered her dressing room unannounced while she was dressing and breastfeeding, and spoke about pornography and sexual encounters.
Baldoni filed a $250million countersuit against The New York Times, claiming the texts Lively filed between himself and his PR team were "cherry-picked and altered communications stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced to mislead."
After Lively filed her lawsuit Baldoni was dropped by his management agency, WME, which also represented Reynolds and the actress.