Ryan Reynolds Dragged Deeper Into Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni Battle

After being dropped by WME and sued by Blake Lively for sexual harassment and an alleged online smear campaign, Justin Baldoni has now made it clear that he will never, ever work on a Disney project.

That’s certainly the tone and likely immediate impact of a January 7 letter sent to CEO Bob Iger and Marvel boss Kevin Feige from It ends with us co-star/director team demands Disney “preserve evidence” related to last year’s massive hit Deadpool and Wolverine.

The correspondence was sent in anticipation of the expected “commencement of legal proceedings against” the Merc with a Mouth himself Ryan Reynolds and Lively, it said.

This is not the first time Reynolds has been mentioned in cases or conversations surrounding the increasingly bitter dispute between Lively and Baldoni over what happened during and after the creation of It ends with usthe domestic abuse film based on Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel. A-lister leading man Reynolds has made plenty of cameos in almost every suit, but now, in a classic distraction tactic, he’s the star attraction.

Want to scoop up anything and everything related to the Reynolds and Hugh Jackman roles Deadpool and Wolverinewhich saw a masked cameo by Lively as Ladypool, the five-page correspondence from Baldoni’s pugilistic lawyer Bryan Freedman wants to leave no stone unturned, smartphone, contract, “”Blackberry devices”, paperwork or floppy disk.

Not a lawsuit, but certainly an indication of one to come, the over-the-top letter, a copy of which was obtained by Deadline, also throws a grenade into the already explosive and multi-litigation situation.

Almost buried among the Disney/Marvel demands from Baldoni’s side is a request for “all documents and communications relating to complaints of sexual or other harassment alleged against Ryan Reynolds by any person.”

WTF?

Although Lively cites numerous instances of alleged sexual harassment, body shaming and more by Baldoni during the 2023 production of It ends with us in her own trial, there has been no indication of such behavior by her high-flying husband—and this insinuating letter provides nothing to substantiate such allegations. There are also hopes of getting director Tim Miller, who was the first Deadpool film and was reported to have had friction with Reynolds in the ever-expanding Lively vs Baldoni saga.

Clickbait aside, the decidedly not-so-nice letter is about the character of Nicepool, the long-haired, double-edged, empathetic version of Deadpool who appears about halfway through the superhero movie, which has grossed $1.34 billion to date at the worldwide box office.

Among the bullet points in the letter to Iger (who is currently running Disney’s response to the LA wildfires and the losses suffered by staff from a hotel due to his own evacuation, I hear) and Feige are some clear words about how unkind. Baldoni feels he has been handled by Reynolds in the third Deadpool flick.

“I don’t think you can say that,” Reynolds’ Deadpool tells Reynolds’ Nicepool at one point in the film, after the latter notes how the “beautiful” Ladypool “also just had a baby and you can’t once tell. With not an ounce of self-awareness, Nicepool declares, “It’s okay, I identify as a feminist.”

To that, the letter asks Disney to preserve for a possible lawsuit:

“There’s no question it’s about Justin,” Freedman told friend and client Megyn Kelly earlier this month. “I mean, anyone who’s seen that tuft of hair — if someone is seriously sexually harassed, you don’t make fun of it. It’s a serious issue.”

Now, with most Hollywood businesses on hold due to the wildfires that left Freedman’s own home in ashes among thousands of others in the Palisades and elsewhere in Los Angeles County, no lawsuit has been filed against either Lively or Reynolds by Baldoni, his PR team of Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, or others named in Lively’s December 20 complaint to the California Department of Civil Rights that brought this not-so-secret It ends with us tension to the surface.

Naturally, Lively launched a formal sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit against Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios, Nathan, Abel and others on New Year’s Eve. It was the same day that Baldoni and the gang went after New York Times for $250 million with allegations that the gray lady cherry-picked text apparently derogatory message and more for Virgin Jane alum’s crisis PR team in a well-researched article on Dec. 21 about Lively’s CRD application.

As a sideshow of sorts, there’s also the Christmas Eve defamation and breach of contract action brought by Stephanie Jones, the head of Baldoni’s old PR firm, in New York state court against Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios and publicists Nathan and Abel.

Right now, no one is really talking about this latest letter. Freedman is getting a pass because of his loss from the fires, and Lively’s team did not respond to a request for comment on the letter to Disney when contacted by Deadline. People at Disney and Marvel were also nowhere to be found on this when we tried to contact them.

If either Disney or Lively representatives respond, this post will be updated.

In the meantime, rest assured, the wind is expected to pick up again for the next day or so – and play well.

Black was the first to report the news of the letter to Disney.