Ryan Reynolds Changed ‘SNL50’ Joke to Make It About ‘It Ends with Us’ Drama (Report)

Ryan Reynolds’ joke about “It Ends with Us” on the “Saturday Night Live” 50^th anniversary special was his idea, a staffer has revealed.

During the special, Ryan and wife Blake Lively took their seats in the audience and wound up being called on to ask a question of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler during a brief Q&A segment.

When called on, Reynolds stood and the ladies asked, “How’s it going?”

The “Deadpool” star, acting squirmy, replied, “Great. Why… what have you heard?”

The one-liner was a sly reference to the dueling lawsuits flying between him and Blake and “It Ends with Us” director and star Justin Baldoni.

Wally Feresten, known as “Cue Card Wally,” told the Australian morning show “Fifi, Fev & Nick” that “SNL” writers had written a different joke for Ryan, but he changed it last-minute.

The hosts asked if the moment was ad-libbed or scripted, and Feresten shared, “He had a different line in rehearsal and he pitched that [line] to replace it. So that was his idea to do it there.”

He added, “We wouldn’t want to do anything too controversial unless they were in on it, so, yeah, that was his line, that was his idea to do it.”

After the special, Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman told “Hot Mics with Billy Bush” of the joke, “I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation… So, it surprised me.”

In December, Lively filed a legal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department claiming Baldoni sexually harassed her on set. She also accused him of a smear campaign in a New York Times article. In return, he sued The New York Times, which denied any wrongdoing. 

Lively then sued Baldoni, and he sued her back. Both parties have also denied any wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, Blake’s team filed an amended lawsuit, claiming there were other women who were uncomfortable on the set of “It Ends with Us” because of Baldoni or his Wayfarer Studios partner Jamey Heath.

Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman responded with a statement to “Extra,” saying, “Our clients have been transparent in providing receipts, real time documents and video showing a completely different story than what has been manipulated and cherry picked to the media. Our clients have taken this matter and these issues very seriously notwithstanding the jokes made publicly by the plaintiff and her husband [Ryan Reynolds]. Her underwhelming amended complaint is filled with unsubstantial hearsay of unnamed persons who are clearly no longer willing to come forward or publicly support her claims. Since documents do not lie and people do, the upcoming depositions of those who initially supported Ms. Lively’s false claims and those who are witnesses to her own behavior will be enlightening. What is truly uncomfortable here is Ms. Lively’s lack of actual evidence.”