In this episode of Candace Candace talks about Ryan Reynolds filing to be dismissed from the Harvey Weinstein lawsuit, why Harvey is taking so long to respond and why Candace gives her thoughts on it. She also talks about the Family Guy episode where Ryan Reynolds played himself in a gay skit.
00:00:00.000All right, guys. Happy Wednesday. Now, I know you guys want the JFK files, the update on that. Is there anyone better equipped to go through those files than me? Probably not. But obviously, we're not going to be able to do that in one day. 80,000 documents being dumped, everyone crawling through them, trying to sort through what's fact, what's fiction. Also, what's even new? Some of them were actually old. And I think that was an intentional strategy. It seems like it's a bit of a distraction to just dump all of that at once.
00:00:26.500I will definitely have an update for you guys on that tomorrow. Today, I've got that Ryan Reynolds filing, which is absolutely something to be seen. It's a sight to be seen. He wants to be completely dismissed from the lawsuit. He wants out on the lawsuit. So I'll have that for you. Plus, updates on Harvey. You're probably wondering why we are delaying a bit. Well, I have an answer for you as to why that's happening. So let's jump right in. Welcome back to Candace.
00:01:26.480I got to get into that, guys. The whole backstory there is crazy. I instantly, instantly, with my producer in the room as the witness, said that something is weird about this case. Something is not adding up about this case. The second it was announced, something fell off to me. And there's a lot of developments happening there. And I am the person. I'm the right person to look into all of these things.
00:01:45.920But unfortunately, for today, we are going to have to have a shortened episode because I have a lot going on in my life at this moment. A lot of updates to give you. First and foremost, let's jump right into Ryan Reynolds.
00:01:56.680So I left you the last time we covered this on Monday. I was telling you that something that was really interesting was this guy's perspective, the husband's perspective. Like, hey, obviously, like this guy's gay, no hard feelings. But this is not how straight men text. And it was really hilarious and also kind of cut through all of the red tape.
00:02:13.160And I had also mentioned to you that Ryan Reynolds, obviously, we figured this out by now, kind of creates these characters of himself. Like, there is actually no difference between Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds. That's the reason why the character is successful. It's actually him. And what better way to become successful than really just playing yourself and the person that you are?
00:02:35.200And my producer reminded me, I had seen the first Deadpool, but there's this scene. I don't think I can actually say it. A really gross graphic scene regarding Ryan Reynolds in a sex scene that indicates maybe quite a bit now when we reexamine his characters over the years.
00:02:54.080But I had mentioned to you that also on Family Guy, they had done this thing where they were very heavily implying that Ryan Reynolds was gay. Unbeknownst to me, Ryan Reynolds actually played Ryan Reynolds in the Family Guy skit. So he acquiesced to this. And it's not the first time that he's done it, where he's written himself into a skit and wanted it to be about homosexuality. It's just a coincidence, I guess. But here is the clip from Family Guy.
00:03:19.740You've got to taste this lamb tagine. Here. Oh, no, that's okay. Come on, you'll love it. Just a taste.
00:03:36.560That was intense, what you just did. Lots of flavors. Whoops. Well, freeze frame.
00:03:49.740What's going to happen next? I think I got to go to the bathroom.
00:03:54.640And then they go on and they have this confrontation where he's like, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not gay. But again, why does he feel the need to like write that in so many different scenes? And here's where it's going to get weird. You let me know when you're uncomfortable. OK, so Ryan Reynolds also did this skit.
00:04:08.100There was a lot of funny humor about the fact that he was not Ryan Gosling because because women, obviously, during the time The Notebook came out, preferred Ryan Gosling.
00:04:18.120They loved Ryan Gosling. And he leaned into this repeatedly by pretending to be Ryan Gosling in The Notebook, but preferring to redo those scenes with men.
00:04:30.060I suppose. I'm not Ryan Gosling, hence the Andrew Garfield's kiss at the Golden Globes.
00:04:34.100We'll get to that. But watch this between him and Conan O'Brien.
00:05:22.280Here he is in a more clear picture of him kissing Andrew, Andrew Garfield for the same reasons to take Ryan Gosling's moment at the 2017 Golden Globes.
00:05:32.280The Golden Globes moment everyone is talking about.
00:05:39.000But if you blink, you might have missed it.
00:05:42.240Ryan Reynolds and Andrew Garfield shared a smooch.
00:05:46.080OK. And then also, unbeknownst to me, he was also in the movie Ted, that stuffed animal.
00:05:53.780And he had a moment with Patrick Warburton, and they decided to be funny and kiss.
00:05:59.300And he did it again at the Genie Awards because it's really funny.
00:06:08.060He kissed a fellow Canadian actor, Scott Thompson.
00:06:11.200Now, of that moment, we just have a photo of it.
00:06:20.180There's nothing more to be seen there.
00:06:22.480He just likes to write these skits and these bits at award shows and also when he's on these late night talk shows and also writes that a lot into his character.
00:06:31.340When he can control the script, he thinks it's funny to imply that he's gay.
00:06:36.560OK, so anyways, they obviously, meaning Justin Baldoni's team, have been going after Ryan Reynolds for defamation, extortion, false light, intentional interference with contractual relations.
00:06:48.740They presented a very strong argument as to all of those six, all of those claims, six of them.
00:06:54.800And I would say, having reviewed this case, having from the very beginning noticed, I think I was kind of the first one who said, no, Ryan is problematic here because I had a source that had said that to me, that Ryan was the person who came on the set.
00:07:06.560And essentially took things over after Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively allegedly were getting along great.
00:07:11.840He was filming Deadpool and Wolverine, came back and then kind of just blew everything up, figuratively speaking.
00:07:18.440Ryan, I would say, in my opinion, is plausibly the most guilty party of this entire thing.
00:07:23.400OK, he has just been publicly humiliating Justin Baldoni as soon as he could, as many times as he could and using as many A-list actors as he could.
00:07:34.120And we have not even seen his text messages yet.
00:07:37.340Like, this is just what we've been able to discern from Deadpool skits.
00:07:40.960It ends with us skits, birthday messages to Sandra Bullock, really wacky stuff.
00:07:46.220So the idea that Ryan is going to come to court and claim that he is wrongly named in this lawsuit, it just sort of offends my sensibilities a little bit.
00:07:55.480Just like it offends my sensibilities to keep telling me that you keep writing yourself as a homosexual man into all of these various circumstances and no one's allowed to question that.
00:08:05.160But anyways, he did file to be dismissed from the lawsuit, which I would say, by the way, that is standard.
00:08:11.200You're at first going to try to throw anything at the wall and say, Your Honor, I don't even want to be a part of this thing.
00:08:40.860That's kind of the overarching thesis that's going on here.
00:08:44.860It starts out with, on the top of page one of it, Blake Lively sued Jamie Heath, Justin Baldoni, et cetera, after they collectively launched a retaliatory social manipulation campaign to destroy and bury her because she privately spoke up about sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct.
00:09:03.440And it goes on, So what does Ryan Reynolds have to do with that, legally speaking, other than being a supportive spouse who has witnessed firsthand the emotional, reputational and financial devastation that Ms. Lively has suffered?
00:09:19.980He's got nothing to do with that whatsoever.
00:09:22.080Then beginning on page two, they move to dismiss the first part of the claim, the defamation claim, while sort of also copping to the fact that Ryan Reynolds did call Justin Baldoni a predator.
00:09:36.020Remember, they had in their lawsuit said that he went up to a guy that worked at WME.
00:09:40.800This was allegedly at the Deadpool and Wolverine premiere and said, you need to let go of him from WME because he's a sexual predator.
00:09:50.180And their argument to that is, well, Ryan believed that that was true.
00:09:58.200And therefore, you know, this is not problematic because he believed it.
00:10:02.520The exact language is the entirety of the plaintiff's defamation claim appears to be based on the two times that Mr. Reynolds allegedly called Mr. Baldoni a predator.
00:10:12.200But the FAC, which is just the initial filing, the filing of the amended complaint, alleges no plausible facts that suggest that Mr. Reynolds did not believe this comment to be true.
00:10:25.840Calling someone a predator amounts to constitutionally protected opinion.
00:10:29.540So I want to tell you that this is actually the strongest part of their argument that's being made, because I will say truthfully, it's a good defense.
00:10:38.760It's not strong enough to get him dropped from this lawsuit or dismissed.
00:10:41.960But an actual belief in the claim would be sufficient enough to prove that there was no actual malice, right?
00:10:48.580That Ryan Reynolds was not acting in reckless disregard to the truth.
00:10:52.520And I actually do believe that Ryan Reynolds has demonstrated that he's a narcissist.
00:11:29.580It's not going to work, in my view, in order to get an outright dismissal because the judge would have to believe that in the process, the next process, which has to take place, which would be the limited discovery, that they wouldn't actually find that he did explicitly defame him in text messages.
00:11:48.680That it's just going to be that he calls him a predator.
00:11:52.160I don't think the judge is going to believe that's the case.
00:11:54.000If he was behaving that way publicly, just imagine what his text messages are going to say about Justin Baldoni.
00:12:00.520If he was willing to call him a predator publicly as he assumed this nice pool character, just imagine what we're going to find when we can read text messages between him and Hugh Jackman, not to be confused with Hugh Hefner, and show that he definitely probably called him a few more names.
00:12:20.100And regarding that nice pool character, they kind of get a little bratty here.
00:12:23.540They claim it's not actionable because it's satire.
00:12:26.960They write, calling someone a predator amounts to constitutionally protected opinion.
00:12:31.320And the FAC's, the filing amended complaints, thin-skinned outrage over a movie character, the satirical woke nice pool, does not even pretend to be tied to any actual legal claims.
00:12:45.380Instead, it falls into the FAC's general allegation of, quote-unquote, hurt feelings.
00:12:51.240That's a pretty, I would say, risky argument to make in the court of public opinion.
00:12:58.780So everything is falling down for you guys because people perceive you as bullies.
00:13:03.080And you're essentially saying, like, a bully argument, which is, so what?
00:13:24.000But if I was their lawyer, I wouldn't have put that, I wouldn't have used that language, thin-skinned outrage, essentially over us bullying you.
00:13:31.940That doesn't make you look good on paper.
00:13:33.720It doesn't make you look good in the court of public opinion.
00:13:35.360It makes you look like what you actually are, which are a bunch of bullies who think you can get away with everything.
00:13:39.580And I would imagine that both courts at this moment matter to you and your wife.
00:13:44.820So not a good argument to make outside of a legal scope.
00:13:49.500Probably, yeah, but nice pool character is not going to be actionable if I'm being frank.
00:13:53.600Then they go on to claim that Ryan Reynolds' extortion claim is invalid because he, quote,
00:13:59.680fails to allege that he received any money or property.
00:14:03.820OK, that's a completely ridiculous argument to say, well, you can't prove that this was extortion because Ryan didn't personally receive any money or property is just dumb.
00:14:15.360There's no other way to say it's legally dumb because that's not the only way that extortion works.
00:14:19.320OK, so extortion is not limited legally to having received money or property.
00:14:24.920The legal definition of extortion is, quote, obtaining something of value like money or property or services from someone by using threats or coercion, including the threat of harm, the exposure of secrets or false claims of official rights.
00:14:45.260Exposure of secrets or false claims of official rights.
00:14:48.980That is exactly what they are demonstrating, but they are alleging, Justin Baldoni and co are alleging, is that they were behind the scenes in order to receive what?
00:15:03.540There is evidence that this is exactly what Ryan Reynolds and his wife did in order to take control of the movie, that they went to the studio heads, that they went to the executives of Sony and at first threatened to walk away from the movie entirely.
00:15:15.900What we we've already seen that in the email proof, like this is not a negotiation.
00:15:31.200You're saying to them, do what we want this as a first step.
00:15:34.820Do what we want or else we're going to walk away from your project and leave you millions of dollars in the hole as you're going to have to reshoot everything you shot, plus find another lead character to the movie.
00:15:48.600Then we know that's how they got to replace the allegedly how the same exact maneuver that they used to replace the name is Brian, Brian Tyler, the composer on the composer on the movie.
00:16:03.060Well, Taylor Swift is not going to give you this unless we get what we want.
00:16:09.740And they were able to do this by threatening to release information about them, right, essentially saying we're going to say that there were sexual harassment claims on set.
00:16:20.180And if we don't get what we want, then there's going to be big, big trouble for you.
00:16:24.060And even that Reddit post, that notorious Reddit post, let's not forget it, that person who ended up being correct about everything said that they used this behind the scenes to maneuver Sony to do what they want.
00:16:34.820And then we got to read Ryan demanding that they make a public statement taking full ownership over Blake's reputation being sunk by her own interviews.
00:16:46.660And that was when his PR person said, Justin, it's time to lawyer up.
00:16:51.420Ryan was like, here's what you're going to read out loud.
00:16:53.740This, to me, is a lot of evidence that Ryan himself quarterbacked this entire situation.
00:17:00.300OK, also, don't forget, remember, Blake chose him to be her, quote, unquote, representative who was present at the meeting when she presented her list of demands and screamed.
00:17:12.100And Ryan shouted at Justin Baldoni to resume filming that meeting that took place in January in their penthouse.
00:17:18.760She quite literally spells that out in her own complaint that she had a right to choose somebody to be her representative.
00:17:25.840And she chose Ryan. So you can't do the now I'm just a doting husband.
00:17:30.300You can't do I did what any husband would do.
00:17:36.740That's not what husbands do in terms of inserting themselves in the contractual negotiations.
00:17:42.680At that point, you are acting as more than a husband.
00:17:45.720Then their allegations, in my view, completely fall apart as you go on further into this lawsuit.
00:17:50.780In the next sentence, they claim, quote, that Ryan interfered with a contract without identifying what that contract is, what the provisions were allegedly breached or even which of them were parties to it.
00:18:03.680So they're saying you're alleging that, you know, you lost a contract, but you haven't been specific about that.
00:18:09.920That's not even a clever bit of lawyering right there.
00:18:12.580But only but only was extremely clear in their filed amended complaints that he was dropped from WME agency.
00:18:20.640So it is obviously way too early for them to have presented what his contract was or anything that that will come down the line.
00:18:28.920But as an initial filing, they're very clear.
00:18:31.840OK, and not only were they clear about that, then the CEO of WME, Ari Emanuel, outright admitted that he dropped Baldoni to be loyal to member Baldoni baloney to be loyal to Blake and Ryan.
00:18:45.460He did this. So they're not going to win on that when they get into the background of the case.
00:18:51.240They then try to diminish Ryan's role in a way that, in my opinion, completely maximizes it.
00:18:56.720When you look at the bottom of page four, then they start getting into the nitty gritty of what Ryan has done.