Ryan Reynolds’ Justin Baldoni joke at ‘SNL 50′ anniversary special ‘was his idea,’ famed cue card guy claims: ‘He pitched that’

nypost.com:

Ryan Reynolds’ joke about his and Blake Lively’s legal battle with “It Ends With Us” director Justin Baldoni during the “SNL” 50th anniversary special was his idea, says the show’s cue card guy.The “Deadpool & Wolverine” star, 48, surprised viewers when he alluded to the ongoing drama an hour into “SNL 50: The Anniversary Special” on Sunday night in a segment where Tina Fey and Amy Poehler took questions from the star-studded audience in Studio 8H.“Ryan Reynolds, how’s it going?” Poehler, 53, asked.Reynolds retorted: “Why?

What have you heard?”On Tuesday, veteran “SNL” cue card guy Wally Feresten, aka “Cue Card Wally,” revealed that the joke was entirely Reynolds’ idea.“He had a different line in rehearsal and he pitched that [line] to replace it,” Feresten said in an interview with Australian breakfast radio show “Fifi, Fev & Nick” when asked whether the quip was an improv on the “Free Guy” star’s part or if it was scripted. “So that was his idea to do it there,” Feresten continued. “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.”Neither Feresten nor Reynolds immediately responded to The Post’s requests for comment; however, a source close to the actor denied the claims.

The day after the “SNL” 50th anniversary special aired, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman responded to Reynolds’ joke, saying it “surprised” him. “I’m unaware of anybody, frankly, whose wife has been sexually harassed and has made jokes about that type of situation,” Freedman told Billy Bush on his “Hot Mics” podcast Monday.“I can’t think of anyone who’s done anything like that,” he added. “So it surprised me.”Freedman also characterized Reynolds’ quip as “the latest.