Ryan Reynolds loves a good Internet troll—just ask his wife Blake Lively—so it should probably come as no surprise that he wasted no time weighing in on that controversial Peloton ad that took over social media last week. In a new commercial for his Aviation American Gin brand, Reynolds recruited the wide-eyed Peloton wife (actress Monica Ruiz) and gave her a script that implies she finally escaped her exercise bike, and perhaps, the husband who gave it to her.
Just to quickly recap: The Peloton ad—which shows a woman receiving a Peloton bike from her husband for Christmas, then tracking her progress over the year by vlogging her rides—touched a nerve with millions of people. Critics called it everything from “sexist” to “body shaming,” while others joked that the woman’s eyes were practically screaming “Get me out of here!” It seems like Reynolds took the latter idea and ran with it, because his ad involves the woman sitting at a bar, looking completely dazed and exhausted, while having a drink with her friends. “This gin is really smooth,” is all she says before her pals chime in with, “We can get you another one, if you’d like” and “You’re safe here.” (Fun fact: One of the friends is Mercedes from cycle two of America’s Next Top Model.)
The whole thing is subtle and the only obvious dig on the ad is when one of the woman’s friends says off-camera, “You look great, by the way!” But Reynolds did make sure we got the joke on his Instagram, where he posted the ad with the caption, “Exercise bike not included.”
For the most part, people laughed about Reynolds extending the Peloton wife saga.
The Peloton Wife actress also shared a message that shows the whole thing was meant in tongue-in-cheek—and that she was ready to brush off the controversy over the original commercial. “So much fun with these girls. Let’s make light of this!! Cheers!!” she wrote.
Ruiz also gave a statement to CNN saying that despite the backlash to the Peloton ad, she’s glad she got the gig. “I was happy to accept a job opportunity earlier this year from Peloton and the team was lovely to work with,” she said. “Although I’m an actress, I am not quite comfortable being in spotlight and I’m terrible on social media. So to say I was shocked and overwhelmed by the attention this week (especially the negative) is an understatement.” That said, getting the call from Reynolds certainly helped. “When Ryan and his production team called about Aviation Gin, they helped me find some humor in the situation,” she said.
But really, who wouldn’t want a call from him? No offense, Blake.
