Dana Carvey has revealed that Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels is deeply invested in the ongoing legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
On the February 20 episode of the Fly on the Wall podcast, Carvey said that after the SNL 50th Anniversary Special, he texted Michaels to say he wished he could have been there. Instead of discussing the show, Michaels immediately responded about the lawsuit.
“Baldoni will now countersue. I think that Lively will probably get a new attorney,” Carvey recalled Michaels texting. Even when Carvey tried to steer the conversation back to the show, Michaels kept talking about the case, mentioning Ryan Reynolds’ involvement and their financial resources.
The legal drama gained even more attention after Reynolds made a joke about it during the SNL 50 special. When Tina Fey and Amy Poehler asked him how he was doing, Reynolds quipped, “Great. Why, what have you heard?” The comment referenced the highly publicized feud between Lively and Baldoni.
Behind the scenes, SNL cue card writer Wally Feresten claimed that Reynolds pitched the joke himself, replacing a different line during rehearsal. However, a source close to Reynolds denied this, and SNL representatives said the claim was false.
Justin Baldoni has not personally responded to the joke, but his lawyer, Bryan Freedman, criticized it. “I can’t think of anyone whose wife has been sexually harassed and then made jokes about it,” Freedman said in a podcast interview.
The lawsuit between Lively and Baldoni continues to escalate. Lively has accused Baldoni of sexual harassment and trying to ruin her career, while Baldoni has denied the allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit.
