The star filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni’s defamation claims, arguing they lack legal merit and are an attack for supporting his wife, Blake Lively

Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, and Justin Baldoni. Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty; Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Ryan Reynolds is pushing back against Justin Baldoni’s defamation lawsuit.

On Tuesday, March 18, the Deadpool & Wolverine star, 48, and his legal team filed a motion to dismiss Baldoni’s complaint against the actor, arguing that the It Ends With Us director-actor’s claims have no merit, as the lawsuit focuses on Reynolds allegedly calling Baldoni, 41, a “predator” in private conversations. According to Reynolds’ attorneys, Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, that doesn’t legally qualify as defamation.

“The entirety of Mr. Baldoni’s case appears to be based on Mr. Reynolds allegedly privately calling Mr. Baldoni a ‘predator,’ but here’s the problem — that is not defamation unless they can show that Mr. Reynolds did not believe that statement to be true,” Gottlieb and Hudson said in a statement. “The complaint doesn’t allege that. In fact, it suggests the opposite: that Mr. Reynolds genuinely believes Mr. Baldoni is a predator.”

In January, Baldoni filed a $400 million lawsuit against Reynolds’, his wife Blake Lively, their publicist Leslie Sloane and Sloane’s PR firm Vision PR, Inc. over the heated situation behind the scenes of It Ends With Us.

In Reynolds’ motion to dismiss, his attorneys also referenced allegations made by Lively, 37, who has accused her It Ends With Us director-actor of sexual harassment and retaliation in multiple complaints.

Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Justin Baldoni.Jeff Spicer/Getty; Jed Cullen/Dave Benett/WireImage; James Devaney/GC Images

“Mr. Reynolds has a First Amendment right to express his opinion of Mr. Baldoni, which should be comforting to a group of people who have repeatedly called Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds ‘bullies’ and other names over the past year,” Gottlieb and Hudson added.

A spokesperson for Reynolds dismissed Baldoni’s lawsuit as an attempt to go after the actor for living the very values Baldoni claims to stand for. “The claims filed against Mr. Reynolds are simply a list of grievances attempting to shame him for being the man Mr. Baldoni has built his brand pretending to be — a man who is ‘confident enough to listen’ to the woman in his life,” the statement reads.

Justin Baldoni’s Lawyer Clarifies Why He Called Blake Lively a ‘Victim’: ‘A Lot of People Are Victims Here’

“We look forward to this lawsuit being dismissed and to collecting on Steve Sarowitz’s $100 million pledge by recovering Mr. Reynolds’ costs and attorneys’ fees incurred to toss this frivolous case.

PEOPLE has reached out to Baldoni and his legal team for comment.

Blake Lively and Ryan Renyolds.SplashNews

On Feb. 18, Lively filed an updated version of her original December 2024 lawsuit, claiming that two unidentified female It Ends With Us costars “will testify” about Baldoni’s allegedly inappropriate behavior on the movie’s set. Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman called the amended complaint “underwhelming” and “filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims” in a statement.

Attorneys for both Lively and Baldoni opted out of “inappropriate” and “premature” pre-trial mediation in February; both cases in Lively v. Wayfarer Studios et al. are currently scheduled to go to trial in March 2026.

Reynolds’ motion alleges that billionaire Steve Sarowitz, one of the plaintiffs in this suit, pledged up to “$100 million to ruin Ms. Lively and Mr. Reynolds.”