Please come forward if you’ve witnessed Gerard Butler secretly watching the very underrated rom-com Definitely, Maybe on an airplane flight, because he’s claiming not to watch Ryan Reynolds movies full stop.
Despite the two stars being essentially interchangeable in many of their on-screen roles, the Scottish actor chose to come for Ryan this week, pulling a Mariah “I don’t know her” Carey kind of stunt so petty that we can’t help but admire.
Responding to a question about the similarities between his 2009 box office bomb Gamer and Ryan’s recent blockbuster Free Guy ― both films take place within the world of a video game, in case you really haven’t seen either ― Gerard threw some expert-level shade his fellow actor’s way.
“I actually don’t know what ‘Free Guy’ is,” he said during an interview with Unilad about his new movie “Copshop,” before his co-star Alexis Louder explained that it’s Ryan’s new film.
“Oh shit, is it?,” Gerard continued. “I don’t watch Ryan Reynolds movies.”
It only took a few days before the very online Ryan directed the energy he usually expends trolling Hugh Jackman or his own wife, Blake Lively, Gerard’s way.
“Can you believe Gerard Butler doesn’t know what Free Guy is?”Ryan wrote on Instagram Tuesday, alongside a screenshot of a headline about the actor’s recent comments on his Twitter timeline.
But, ultimately, Ryan hoped to direct fans’ attention to a different story, circling his own tweet about his recent partnership with the ACLU and the NAACP, which just so happened to fall below the news item.
“Also, can you believe that the challenges to democracy have never been greater, and that Blake and I will match your contributions to the @aclu_nationwide and @naacp_ldf?” he continued in the caption. “*Order of these questions optimized for the Internet, NOT importance.”
Earlier this week, Ryan and Blake announced they will match donations up to $1 million through to 1 October as part of the “Democracy Building Challenge,” splitting the funds between the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund.
Gerard has yet to respond to Ryan’s social media manoeuvring, but at this point, his only real option is to pony up and post a receipt of his donation to the couple’s cause.
Giving Ryan a taste of his own medicine and helping preserve our very fragile democracy? Your move, Gerard.