Ryan Reynolds drew laughs and a shocked expression from wife Blake Lively, when he obliquely quipped about her feud with It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni.
The actors along with an untold number of other luminaries attended the boisterous walk down comedy-sketch memory lane, SNL50: The Anniversary Special that was broadcast on NBC Sunday (Feb 16) night in the United States. About two minutes into a segment in which SNL alums Amy Poehler and Tina Fey took scripted “audience questions,” Reynolds stood up in the star-studded audience to ask one.
“How’s it going?” asked Fey, calling on him.
“Great!” he said cheerfully, then seemed to think twice and asked, with a faux-nervous expression on his face, “Why? What have you heard?”
Lively wore an amused smile when her husband stood up, but that quickly faded to what many social media commentators read as shock as the audience broke into laughter. While the bit was planned, some questioned whether she had been let in on the joke.
It was a thinly veiled reference to the ongoing, multimillion-dollar legal battle that began with Lively’s allegations of sexual harassment on set. Baldoni has denied the accusations and has filed several defamation lawsuits.
Reynolds’ actual faux-question alluded to something potentially equally toxic.
“You know the material that they made the Coneheads with? Are those edible?” he asked, referring to the recurring moments of hilarity depicting a family of aliens played by Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman.
“No, and based on them being made in 1975, I’d assume that they’re highly toxic,” Fey replied.
He then asked “hypothetically if a “couple of nibbles” taken backstage should send someone running to the hospital.
“Yes, they should go to the hospital right away,” Poehler told him, moving on to the next questioner with a curt, “Good luck!” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
