SAG Awards: Ryan Reynolds skips event amid wife Blake Lively’s ‘It Ends With Us’ legal battle and SNL 50 joke backlash

Actor Ryan Reynolds did not attend the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards after facing immense criticism for joking about his wife Blake Lively's legal battle with her ‘It Ends With Us’ co-star Justin Baldoni at the 50th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live.

Reynolds, 48, maintained a low profile and declined to appear on the awards show, which took place at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Why Reynolds skipped SAG Awards?

The actor and his partner were not confirmed to attend the awards show. However, fans of Reynolds were hoping to see him at the event since his latest anti-hero film ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ got nomination in the Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble category. The trophy eventually went to ‘The Fall Guy’.


According to Radar Online, it seemed like Reynolds was not ready to have all the spotlight on him again after he and Lively, 37, were recently seen together at the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special.

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Reynolds’ joke about legal drama

Earlier this month, Reynolds and Lively made a red carpet appearance at the Saturday Night Live special. This was their first since the Gossip Girl alum filed a complaint against Justin Baldoni in December 2024. She has accused the actor-director of sexual harassment as well as launching a smear campaign against her during the press tour of the film.

On the show, Reynolds joked about Lively's legal woes as he spoke to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

As he was seated next to his partner, Fey and Poehler took questions from the audience and later called on Reynolds, asking him, "How's it going?"

In reply, the actor said, "Why? What have you heard?"

While the audience at the event burst out in laughter, Likely looked tense as she looked at him with a shocked face. It seems that she was not ready for it, while this prompted a major backlash on social media from fans.

Wally Feresten, who has been a part of Saturday Night Live since 1990 and is popular as 'Cue Card Wally,' later claimed in an interview that it was Reynolds' "idea" to make changes in the lines that were originally written for him in the skit.

The joke was "pitched" by the actor at the last minute, Feresten said.

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"He had a different line in rehearsal, and he pitched that (line) to replace it. So that was his idea to do it there," Feresten said on Australian radio show Fifi, Fev & Nick.

FAQs

1. When did Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively appear on Saturday Night Live?
The star-studded episode aired on February 16.


2. When was ‘It Ends With Us’ released?
The film hit cinemas in August 2024 and became a major box office success, grossing $351 million against a $25-million budget.