Featured Image Credit: NBC
Topics: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, US News, Celebrity
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, US News, Celebrity
Saturday Night Live has set the record straight on where the controversial 'joke' that Ryan Reynolds told while live on air really came from.
The Deadpool actor appeared on the sketch show's 50th anniversary special on Sunday (16 February), where he made a comment that seemingly alluded to his wife Blake Lively's ongoing legal battle against Justin Baldoni.
The still-viral clip sees Reynolds, 48, and Lively, 37, sitting together in the audience, when hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey give them a shout-out, exclaiming: "Oh, hi, Ryan Reynolds. Ryan Reynolds, how is it going?"
The movie star then timidly replies: "Great... why? What have you heard?"
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Gossip Girl alum Lively then looks up at her husband with a shocked expression, seemingly confirming the remark was a jibe alluding to recent circumstances.
In December, Lively filed a damning legal complaint against her It Ends With Us co-star Baldoni - accusing the 41-year-old actor of exhibiting overly-sexualised behaviour towards her while on the set of the Coleen Hoover novel adaptation.
She alleged that he and a team of publicists later orchestrated a 'smear campaign' against her, and made ceaseless inquisitions about her sex life with Reynolds - with whom she shares four children.
Baldoni subsequently denied all of Lively's allegations and has since sued her for defamation and extortion.
Naturally, therefore, much has since been said about Reynolds' apparent attempt at humour, with many concerned viewers initially wondering whether wife Lively was in on it, or whether it came as much of a shock to her.
Following the global speculation, however, one SNL staff member has spoken out about Reynolds' remark, claiming the joke was the actor's idea and that they didn't see it coming.
Wally Feresten - known on set as 'cue card Wally' - spoke on the Australian radio show Fifi, Fev and Nick earlier this week, claiming that, during rehearsals, Reynolds' had a different joke up his sleeve.
"He had a different line in rehearsal and he pitched that," Ferensten told listeners. "So that was his idea to do it."
He added of the show: "We wouldn't want to do anything too controversial unless they were in on it.
"Yeah, that was his line. That was his idea."
However, a SNL spokesperson told People that Feresten wasn't involved in writing the episodes and his claims were false.
A source also told the news outlet that Reynolds' jibe was 'pitched by SNL and never changed', but that the actor told a different joke while he was standing in the audience that had been 'rewritten in rehearsal'.
Baldoni's lawyer, Brian Freedman, has also broken his silence on the comment.
Speaking on Hot Mics with Billy Bush on Monday (17 February), he claimed: "I'm unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation.
"It surprised me."
LADbible Group has contacted Saturday Night Live for comment.