Ryan Reynolds rejected a gag by SNL’s writers and changed it for his own joke about Justin Baldoni at the 11th hour, a veteran of the show has revealed.
Wally Feresten, who has worked on the programme since 1990 and is known as ‘Cue Card Wally’ to fans, has said the star’s deadpan quip about his wife’s lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star was Ryan’s ‘idea’.
It came after MailOnline revealed that the show’s producers were uneasy about the decision.
Blake Lively looked up suddenly towards her husband, 48, before she smiled and played as he cracked the joke on the ‘SNL 50: The Anniversary Special’ during a star-filled Q&A with hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
‘Ryan Reynolds, how’s it going?’, Mr Poehler, 53, had asked. Reynolds replied: ‘Why? What have you heard?’, in a thinly-veiled joke about the scandal that saw Kevin Costner appear to be unimpressed.
Viewers had wondered whether Ryan’s joke on Sunday night had been ad-libbed but Wally Feresten said that Reynolds had ‘pitched’ it himself, having rejected one written for him by SNL’s writers after the rehearsal on Sunday.
‘He had a different line in rehearsal and he pitched that [line] to replace it,’ Mr Feresten said, adding: ‘So that was his idea to do it there’.
‘Cue Card Wally’ suggested that the SNL writing team wouldn’t have suggested it themselves because the legal battle between the Hollywood power couple and Baldoni is so ‘controversial’.
‘So yeah, that was his line. That was his idea to do’, he said speaking to Australian breakfast radio show ‘Fifi, Fev & Nick’, who are based in Melbourne.
‘We wouldn’t want to do anything too controversial unless they were in on it’.
Blake Lively, 37, broke cover to attend Sunday night’s SNL50: The Anniversary Special with her husband, 48. She laughed as he cracked a controversial joke at their first red carpet event since she accused Baldoni, 41, of sexual harassment
Blake Lively, 37, played along as Ryan alluded to their scandal with Justin Baldoni, 41, in a skit on the TV
SNL’s famous cue card man Wally Feresten said the joke was entirely Ryan’s idea and different to the one written for him
Wally’s intervention emerged in the hours after Blake Lively amended her lawsuit against her It Ends With Us co-star and Justin Baldoni’s attorney hit out at Ryan Reynolds’ joke about it to millions in the US and around the world.
Bryan Freedman said: ‘I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation.
‘I can’t think of anyone who’s done anything like that. So it surprised me.’
Insiders have said that producers were split on including his joke
Many backstage swerved the couple amid their ongoing legal scandal, sources claimed.
Some attendees were reportedly ‘apprehensive’ about mingling with the embattled Hollywood couple, while others were less than amused with Reynolds’ apparent quip about their ongoing legal nightmare, which saw Lively accuse Baldoni, 41, of sexual harassment.
‘People were apprehensive about speaking and talking to them because of the situation, but everyone was friendly enough,’ the insider told DailyMail.com.
Blake amended her lawsuit against Justin Baldoni late on Tuesday in a move which raised eyebrows among many and now the latter’s lawyer has fired back.
Among the new claims from the 37-year-old actress Lively included that two other It Ends With Us actresses are about to come forward and provide evidence in support of her allegations.
However, Baldoni’s lawyer Mr Freedman broken his silence over what he calls an ‘underwhelming’ amendment to the ugly legal battle.
The attorney insists there seems to be no actual new evidence in the filing and believes that there was nothing added which could be seen as damning toward his client.
The lawyer for the 41-year-old American actor and director said the suit is ‘filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims,’ per a statement released on Wednesday.
Freedman also added that his clients – which include Baldoni, his publicists, and Wayfarer Studios – ‘have been transparent in providing receipts, real time documents and video showing a completely different story than what has been manipulated and cherry picked to the media.’
Blake Lively amended her lawsuit against Justin Baldoni late on Tuesday in a move which raised eyebrows among many and now the latter’s lawyer has fired back
Among the new claims from the 37-year-old actress Lively included that two other It Ends With Us actresses are about to come forward and provide evidence in support of her allegations
However, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman broken his silence over what he calls an ‘underwhelming’ amendment to the ugly legal battle; Baldoni in December 2023
This comes as the Gossip Girl actress filed an amended complaint late Tuesday night, claiming the two actresses on set also had uncomfortable experiences with her It Ends With Us director and co-star.
A source for DailyMail.com has disputed these claims as they said: ‘Blake is really clutching at straws. She was said to have these smoking guns, and she really has nothing. Her amended complaint is baseless.
‘Bottom line is this, Justin did not harass any other woman on set. There was not one single HR complaint made by any woman – Blake included. If he did, wouldn’t HR be the first place they would go?’
The insider went on to directly name two female castmembers from the drama film including Isabela Ferrer and Jenny Slate.
They said: ‘In fact, Isabella praised Justin. She wrote about how amazing he was to work with. And Jenny Slate wants nothing to do with any of this. She has made that clear to several people.
‘It seems unlikely that Blake has even one woman that is willing to come forward and go on-record to corroborate her claims. In the amended complaint, there are no text messages, emails, signals, WhatsApp’s, or anything about these alleged women. Justin has receipts. He has factual evidence in his defense and it doesn’t look like Blake has anything to back up her claims.’
Meanwhile, according to a spokesperson for Blake, the complaint does not name the alleged victim-witnesses or include their texts or screenshots in order to protect their privacy.
‘Importantly, however, these victim-witnesses have given Ms. Lively permission to share their communications in the Amended Complaint as they are laid out, and they will testify and produce documents in the discovery process,’ the spokesperson said.
The Gossip Girl actress filed an amended complaint claiming the two actresses on set also had uncomfortable experiences with her It Ends With Us director and co-star
A source for DailyMail.com has disputed these claims as they said: ‘Blake is really clutching at straws. She was said to have these smoking guns, and she really has nothing. Her amended complaint is baseless. Bottom line is this, Justin did not harass any other woman on set. There was not one single HR complaint made by any woman – Blake included. If he did, wouldn’t HR be the first place they would go?’; Baldoni seen in LA back in December
The lawyer for the 41-year-old American actor and director said the suit is ‘filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims. Bryan Freedman is seen in New York earlier this month
The complaint is said to contain ‘significant contemporaneous evidence’ that Blake was not alone in raising allegations of on-set misconduct, along with ‘corroboration of her original claims.’
It also reportedly claims ‘evidence detailing the threats, harassment, and intimidation’ of not just Blake, but ‘numerous innocent bystanders.’
Blake previously filed a sexual harassment lawsuit in December against Justin, who co-starred in and directed her hit romantic drama It Ends With Us.
Justin followed up by launching a $400 million defamation lawsuit against Blake, her publicist and her husband, Ryan Reynolds.
He also filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against the New York Times for its reporting on Blake’s allegations.
But despite the high-stakes legal battle, it seems neither side plans to back down any time soon.
Last month, a judge scheduled a trial date for their lawsuits in March of 2026, and both parties have already decided to skip any attempt at mediation.
Meanwhile, Justin’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, has claimed the allegations have cost his client ‘a substantial amount of work.’
Blake previously filed a sexual harassment lawsuit in December against Justin (pictured), who co-starred in and directed her hit romantic drama It Ends With Us
Appearing on Monday’s episode of the Hot Mics With Billy Bush podcast, Bryan discussed the ongoing case and even revealed what the ideal outcome would be for his 41-year-old client.
When asked if he had initially been open to ‘mediating’ with Blake’s legal team, the lawyer explained: ‘The question was asked about whether he would be willing to go to mediation and whether we were open to that, and our answer to that was, ‘no.’
‘We are not willing to do anything until Justin is cleared of being called a predator, a sexual harasser. Until that is determined to have not happened, we will be doing this,’ Bryan stated.
Former Today host Billy, 53, probed further and asked: ‘What is most important to Justin? The $400 million or some kind of financial settlement to make up for…has he lost work? Have people backed away from him for a future project?’
Bryan replied: ‘A substantial amount of work,’ but didn’t elaborate on any specific projects.
When the host asked if Justin is looking for a ‘full-blown apology from Blake,’ the lawyer – who has represented the likes of Robert Downey Jr and Mariah Carey in the past – replied: ‘I think he wants a determination, I know he wants a determination…
‘That he did not engage in the behaviour that has been alleged, and that he did not engage in sexual harassment or create a smear campaign.’
