Ryan Reynolds Talks Online Critics After Baldoni Lawsuit
Ryan Reynolds addressed his public image after months of nonsense stemming from the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lawsuits.
Last December, Blake accused her It Ends With Us co-star and director of sexual harassment and a subsequent retaliation campaign. Justin then sued Blake and Ryan, alleging that they were trying to destroy his reputation, but that lawsuit was recently tossed out by the judge.
Justin's team had the option to amend some of their complaints, but they did not.
Despite most of Justin's claims obviously being, in my opinion, bullshit, take a look at a post that even mentions Ryan and you'll be met with comments like these:
(This is on a post about an Australian sailing team Ryan recently bought with Hugh Jackman, and doesn't even have his face).
In a new interview with Time about his numerous business ventures (specifically, Maximum Effort), Ryan declined to comment directly on the legal issues. However, he was asked about whether "tabloids and online discourse" have affected his business ventures. To that, the 48-year-old replied, "I can read something that says, 'He should be drawn and quartered.' I could read something that says I should win a Nobel Prize. Both are meaningless."
'None of us are comprised of our best moments. None of us are defined by our worst moments. We are something in the middle," he added.
When later pressed on whether headlines affect his brand and business relationships, Ryan said, "Accessibility and accountability are a big part of how I do things...The people that I work with know me, so there's never a question of anything like that. If you operate with some degree of core values and integrity, they're going to help you up. If you're an asshole, they're not. And that's pretty simple.'
Ryan attributes his ability to remain calm to the aftermath of a "brawl" with one of his friends when he was younger. "I skipped rehab in my 20s and decided to go to conflict-resolution workshops in Santa Fe,' he recalled. 'Conflict resolution changed my life in a way that I can't quantify. You don't have to agree with the person. You can empathize, you can validate. You can do all those things and get closer to them without having to just blindly agree or win or lose.'
After all, Ryan says that his value "comes from having four kids and a good marriage...My self-worth isn't farmed out to any one thing that isn't under the roof of my home.'
And I'm sure that noooooooone is going to reveal they've joined a borderline conspiracy group in the comments...
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Time Magazine
4 hours ago
- Time Magazine
The Real-Life Inspirations Behind Squid Game's VIPs
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The VIPs are led by Oh Il-nam, who earned his own massive fortune as a moneylender. In Season 1, Oh Il-nam enters himself in the Game as Player 001 as a way to pass the time while he dies from a terminal illness. On his comfy deathbed, Oh Il-nam tells Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) that he originally pitched the idea of the Game because he was bored. In Season 3, which brings Squid Game to an end on June 27, the VIPs take on a more significant role as their moral degradation reaches new lows. 'They take their masks off and go into the game and kill others with their own hands,' Hwang tells TIME, through an interpreter, referring to the characters' arrival in Episode 3. This time, they temporarily trade their dinner dress and opulent animal masks for the soldiers' signature pink suits and black masks, and swap their champagne glasses for machine guns to hunt down and kill the round's 'losers' themselves. Unlike Season 1, this group of VIPs are not afraid to unmask themselves and reveal their identities. For the Squid Game creator, the VIPs' more active Season 3 role stems from his real-world observations. 'In the past, those that really controlled the system and maintained power, they were hidden behind the curtain, almost like this big unseen conspiracy. However, it's no longer the case, especially in America," Hwang says. "We talk a lot about oligarchy these days, but these so-called big tech owners, they step up, telling everyone who they're backing with their money. The people who really control the power and the system, they no longer hide behind a curtain. They willingly take their masks off, almost as if to declare, 'We're the ones running everything. We're the ones in control.'' In 2020, when the first season of Squid Game was filmed, the world had about 2,000 billionaires, worth roughly $8 trillion. In 2025, that number has risen to over 3,000, worth over $16 trillion. (For reference, one million seconds is about 11.5 days, while one billion seconds is about 31.5 years.) Collectively, these billionaire humans have more wealth than the GDP of any country in the world, save for the U.S. or China. Elon Musk's current net worth of $412 billion is bigger than the GDPs of all but 24 countries, including Denmark, Iran, and Malaysia. The lavish Venice wedding of Jeff Bezos, the fourth-richest person in the world, is set to take place the same weekend as Squid Game Season 3's release on Netflix. The private event costs at least an estimated $46 million and has reportedly necessitated the use of around 90 private jets for the transport of its guests. While Hwang didn't base Squid Game's VIP characters on any real people, that doesn't mean they don't resemble members of the increasingly powerful billionaire class. After finishing Season 1, Hwang noted that one of the VIPs unintentionally resembled Donald Trump, the richest person to ever be president of the United States. A similar realization happened after crafting Season 3. 'Elon Musk is everywhere these days, right?' notes Hwang, of the world's richest person and Trump's top campaign donor. 'Everybody talks about him. Not only is he the head of a huge tech company that controls the world almost, but he's also this showman. After writing [Season 3], of course I thought, 'Oh, some of the VIPs do kind of resemble Elon Musk.'' How real-world political polarization inspired Squid Game Season 3 In a better reality, Hwang would have less inspiration for Squid Game. The series was famously inspired by the director's own struggles following the 2008 financial crisis, and the broader infrastructure of growing wealth inequality: the cryptocurrency boom, the rise of tech giants, and Donald Trump's first presidency. 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Business Wire
12 hours ago
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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Carnegie Corporation of New York announces the 2025 Class of Great Immigrants, Great Americans, recognizing 20 distinguished naturalized American citizens whose contributions have enriched our society and helped to strengthen our democracy. For 20 years, the philanthropic foundation has sponsored the public awareness initiative, honoring a total of more than 750 naturalized American citizens from almost 120 countries who represent a remarkable range of immigration journeys. To mark the tribute's 20th anniversary, Carnegie has commissioned a free comic book featuring more than a dozen inspiring stories as told by naturalized U.S. citizens and created by an award-winning production team and illustrator. The 13 comics include Peabody Award–winning comedian Mo Amer; seminal musician and filmmaker David Byrne; pediatrician Mona Hanna, who exposed the water crisis in Flint, Michigan; Nobel Prize–winning biochemist Katalin Karikó, whose work led to the COVID-19 vaccine; and Jim Lee, the legendary illustrator and chief creative officer of DC. The comic book, which is freely available to the public, may be downloaded at Carnegie has also commissioned the National Council of Teachers of English to develop free educational resources and lesson plans based on the comics, which will be available in fall 2025. The 2025 Class of Great Immigrants is comprised of naturalized citizens from 16 countries who are leaders across academia, the arts, business, journalism, medicine, philanthropy, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). 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'For 20 years, our Great Immigrants public awareness initiative has been a reminder that many of the most influential figures in our country have been distinguished naturalized citizens, like our founder Andrew Carnegie, born in Scotland,' said Dame Louise Richardson, president of Carnegie, who is a naturalized American citizen born in Ireland. 'The U.S. is a nation of immigrants and our ongoing support of nonpartisan organizations that help establish legal pathways for citizenship continues to enrich the very fabric of American life. We applaud this year's 20th class and the hundreds of 'Great Immigrants, Great Americans' before them.' The initiative aims to increase public awareness of the economic and societal benefits of immigration. It is a tribute to the legacy of Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who, like the initiative's honorees, found success as an American and contributed enormously to his adopted country. During the past 20 years, the Carnegie database of Great Immigrants has grown into one of the largest online resources for examples of accomplished naturalized American citizens. Past honorees include Isabel Allende, Elizabeth Blackburn, Sergey Brin, Michael J. Fox, Min Jin Lee, Yo-Yo Ma, Rupert Murdoch, Martina Navratilova, and Pedro Pascal. Naturalization and the legal integration of immigrants are part of the foundation's overarching goal of reducing political polarization for a strong democracy. According to the American Immigration Council, a Carnegie grantee whose research is cited in the new comic book, there are 48 million immigrants in America, about half are naturalized U.S. citizens, and more than seven million are eligible to apply for citizenship. Among Fortune 500 companies, 230 were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants, and among business owners, one in four is an immigrant. The 20 honorees in the Class of 2025 will be recognized with a full-page public service announcement in The New York Times on the Fourth of July and through tributes on social media. Please join the celebration by sharing via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter) using the hashtag #GreatImmigrants. To learn more about the foundation's new comic book featuring Great Immigrants, visit The 2025 Class of Great Immigrants: Tope Awotona (Nigeria) Founder and CEO, Calendly Moungi Bawendi (France) Professor of Chemistry, MIT Helen M. Blau (England) Director, Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, and Professor, Stanford University Roger Cohen (England) Journalist and Paris Bureau Chief, The New York Times Akiko Iwasaki (Japan) Professor of Immunobiology, Dermatology, and Epidemiology, Yale School of Medicine Maz Jobrani (Iran) Comedian, Actor, and Author Simon Johnson (England) Professor of Entrepreneurship, MIT Sloan School of Management Michele Kang (South Korea) Businesswoman, Sports Team Owner, and Philanthropist Shahid Khan (Pakistan) President and CEO, Flex-N-Gate Manjusha (Manju) P. Kulkarni (India) Executive Director, AAPI Equity Alliance María Teresa Kumar (Colombia) President and CEO, Voto Latino Tania León (Cuba) Composer, Conductor, and Educator Sandra Leisa Lindsay (Jamaica) Vice President, Public Health Advocacy, Northwell Health Luciano Marraffini (Argentina) Professor, The Rockefeller University, and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Priyamvada Natarajan (India) Professor of Astronomy and Physics, Yale University Kareem Rahma (Egypt) Comedian, Artist, and Musician Raúl Ruiz (Mexico) U.S. Congressman, California, District 25 Manoochehr Sadeghi (Iran) Grand Master Musician and Educator Yuan Yuan Tan (China) Former Prima Ballerina, San Francisco Ballet Avi Wigderson (Israel) Professor of Mathematics, Institute for Advanced Study About Carnegie Corporation of New York Carnegie Corporation of New York was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. Today the foundation works to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for the issues that Carnegie considered most important: education, democracy, and peace.
Buzz Feed
14 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
Ryan Reynolds Talks Online Critics After Baldoni Lawsuit
Ryan Reynolds addressed his public image after months of nonsense stemming from the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni lawsuits. Last December, Blake accused her It Ends With Us co-star and director of sexual harassment and a subsequent retaliation campaign. Justin then sued Blake and Ryan, alleging that they were trying to destroy his reputation, but that lawsuit was recently tossed out by the judge. Justin's team had the option to amend some of their complaints, but they did not. Despite most of Justin's claims obviously being, in my opinion, bullshit, take a look at a post that even mentions Ryan and you'll be met with comments like these: (This is on a post about an Australian sailing team Ryan recently bought with Hugh Jackman, and doesn't even have his face). In a new interview with Time about his numerous business ventures (specifically, Maximum Effort), Ryan declined to comment directly on the legal issues. However, he was asked about whether "tabloids and online discourse" have affected his business ventures. To that, the 48-year-old replied, "I can read something that says, 'He should be drawn and quartered.' I could read something that says I should win a Nobel Prize. Both are meaningless." 'None of us are comprised of our best moments. None of us are defined by our worst moments. We are something in the middle," he added. When later pressed on whether headlines affect his brand and business relationships, Ryan said, "Accessibility and accountability are a big part of how I do people that I work with know me, so there's never a question of anything like that. If you operate with some degree of core values and integrity, they're going to help you up. If you're an asshole, they're not. And that's pretty simple.' Ryan attributes his ability to remain calm to the aftermath of a "brawl" with one of his friends when he was younger. "I skipped rehab in my 20s and decided to go to conflict-resolution workshops in Santa Fe,' he recalled. 'Conflict resolution changed my life in a way that I can't quantify. You don't have to agree with the person. You can empathize, you can validate. You can do all those things and get closer to them without having to just blindly agree or win or lose.' After all, Ryan says that his value "comes from having four kids and a good self-worth isn't farmed out to any one thing that isn't under the roof of my home.' And I'm sure that noooooooone is going to reveal they've joined a borderline conspiracy group in the comments...
