Bethenny Frankel Praises 'Smart' Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds SNL Appearance: 'Marketing Genius'

The Deadpool star was in the audience with wife Blake Lively for an audience Q&A session with SNL alums Tina Fey and Amy Poehler when he jokingly alluded to his wife's embittered legal battle with her It Ends With Us director and co-star, Justin Baldoni.

While many on social media were immediately turned off by the couple's audacious appearance, Real Housewives of New York icon Bethenny Frankel was all about it, calling the appearance "marketing genius" on both ends.

"SNL was nothing short of brilliant for having them on last night," said the Skinnygirl founder in a video shared to her Instagram page. "They are the epicenter, they are the zeitgeist that is popular culture."

"They often have disruptive people on. They talk about disruptive topics, they will have both political candidates on," Frankel added. SNL does have a history of controversial personalities, including both Donald Trump and Elon Musk hosting in recent years.

As for the couple at the center of the high-profile scandal, Frankel said, "Whether you like them or not, [it was] smart of Blake and Ryan to go."

In fact, she argued it was "brilliant" marketing, because "not everyone lives in the bowels of TikTok reading every single legal document and knows every single little thing that you guys know."

Frankel's take in support of Reynolds and Lively was met with the same backlash and vitriol as SNL and the couple themselves were hit with immediately after they showed up on the screen during Sunday's show.

"This type of marketing may have worked several years ago but it just doesn't now," commented one of Frankel's followers, with Frankel herself jumping in to defend herself, replying, "yes it does and is." Another commenter countered, "I completely disagree. It made them look desperate."

"I just don’t agree. Going out in public to show the world your [sic] united as a couple is ok but opening his mouth and joking about the drama was horrible," argued another follower. "Did you see the look on the faces of the people around them? Very few people were laughing.. it was a huge misstep."

Another passionate commenter questioned Frankel, writing, "You're the one who's been telling us Hollywood is over and we aren't falling for it anymore and this is a perfect example of that PR bulls--t. Nothing is real. It's disingenuous and I think we're all just shocked because we value your opinion so much and you always keep it real ❤️so how could you give any flowers to these clowns?"

During the live broadcast, Reynolds alluded to the scandal when he popped up during the aforementioned Q&A session to ask a question. When he was asked how it's going by Fey and Poehler, he shot back, "Great -- why, what have you heard?"

Obviously in on the joke, Fey and Poehler quickly deflected, saying that they hadn't heard anything and all was good, as wife Lively looked very seriously up toward her husband.

The moment wasn't particularly well-received in the audience, either, with many online pointing to the faces of stars like Kevin Costner, Cher, and Anya Taylor Joy, who were all sitting nearby as the bit played out.

On December 31, Baldoni filed a $250 million lawsuit against The New York Times for its coverage of Lively's legal complaint, in which she accused Baldoni of sexual harassment, as well as claiming he and others orchestrated a smear campaign against her. Lively later filed a federal lawsuit of her own, in which she reiterated the claims she alleged in the complaint.

In his lawsuit, Baldoni and the other plaintiffs -- including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel -- accuse the publication of libel, invasion of privacy, promissory fraud and breach of implied-in-fact contract, claiming they "deliberately" misled readers. The suit also accuses the paper of relying on Lively's "unverified and self-serving narrative," which they say is full of "blatant falsehoods and egregious misrepresentations."

In a statement to TMZ, a New York Times spokesperson said, "Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article. To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error. We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well. We plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit."

In a statement to The New York Post, Lively's attorneys addressed Baldoni's lawsuit.

"Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively's California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today," the statement read. "This lawsuit is based on the obviously false premise that Ms. Lively's administrative complaint against Wayfarer and others was a ruse based on a choice 'not to file a lawsuit against Baldoni, Wayfarer,' and that ‘litigation was never her ultimate goal.'"

"As demonstrated by the federal complaint filed by Ms. Lively earlier today, that frame of reference for the Wayfarer lawsuit is false," they added. "While we will not litigate this matter in the press, we do encourage people to read Ms. Lively's complaint in its entirety. We look forward to addressing each and every one of Wayfarer's allegations in court."

The battle reached a new level on January 16 when Baldoni filed a massive defamation lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist, Leslie Sloane. In it, the plaintiffs "set the record straight," following allegations from Lively accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment and his team of orchestrating a "smear campaign" against her in the media.

In the filing, Baldoni's team argues any backlash Lively received in the lead-up to the release of It Ends with Us were her own doing -- saying, "The suggestion that Wayfarer caused the online backlash against her is absurd given the evidence of her own insensitivity." They also accuse Lively of having Baldoni -- who directed the movie -- iced out of his own film, saying she took over both scripts and editing duties.

The suit is seeking no less than $400 million in damages.

Baldoni has continued to deny allegations brought about by Lively, while Lively, Reynolds and Sloane have denied the accusations made in litigation by Baldoni.

In January, Lively and Reynolds filed a letter asking the court to issue a gag order from Baldoni's legal team, which is led by Freedman, whom the couple claims has been engaging in "improper conduct," per TMZ.

Freedman hit back, telling TMZ that Baldoni won't be "bullied" by Lively and Reynolds.

Baldoni's team even released a website filled with private communications such as text messages that were included in court filings detailing his interactions with the Hollywood power couple over the making of It Ends With Us.