What did Ryan Reynolds say on SNL about wife Blake Lively's This Is Us lawsuit against Justin Baldoni?
Saturday Night Live (SNL) has always been known for hot takes and quips on current events - and the 50th anniversary special was no different.
On Sunday, February 16, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds were spotted at SNL50: The Anniversary Special in New York amid the ongoing legal dispute surrounding her latest film, It Ends With Us.
During the show, Reynolds, 48, made a surprise appearance in a segment featuring former cast members Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who were fielding questions from celebrity attendees in the audience.
As Reynolds stood up to speak while sat next to Lively, Fey, 54, playfully asked: “How’s it going?”
Reynolds nervously joked: “Great, why? What have you heard?”
His joke came in the wake of a $400m lawsuit filed by Lively’s It Ends With Us co-star and director, Justin Baldoni. The lawsuit, which named Lively, Reynolds, their publicist Leslie Sloane, and Sloane’s PR firm Vision PR, accused them of civil extortion, defamation, and other claims.
Baldoni, 41, has filed a separate $250m lawsuit against the New York Times over an article alleging that he and his team orchestrated a smear campaign against Lively.
Publicist Jed Wallace, who was named in a complaint Lively submitted to the California Civil Rights Department, also took legal action against the actress. He sued Lively for $7m, alleging defamation after her legal team claimed that Baldoni’s PR representatives hired Wallace to participate in the alleged smear campaign reported by the New York Times.
Following his subtle reference to the legal turmoil on SNL50, Reynolds moved on to a lighthearted question for Fey and Poehler. He said: “You know the material that they made the Coneheads with? Are those edible?”
The question referred to the iconic Coneheads sketch from the 1970s, which featured Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, and Laraine Newman as an alien family with exaggeratedly elongated heads. The skit was the inspiration behind the 1993 movie, which also starred Aykroyd and Curtin.
Fey said: “No, and based on them being made in 1975, I’d assume that they’re highly toxic.”
Reynolds added: “If somebody hypothetically took a couple of nibbles backstage and, you know, got excited, should they go to the hospital?”
“Yes, they should go to the hospital right away,” Poehler replied. “Good luck.”