Ryan Reynolds hires Peloton actress after social media frenzy

Ryan Reynolds
Photo credit Associated Press

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Ryan Reynolds says he relates to the social media criticism caused by a recent Peloton ad.

It even led him to hire the actress for a commercial promoting his gin company.

Reynolds spoke about the frenzy the commercial caused on Tuesday while promoting his new action flick on Netflix, the Michael Bay-directed “6 Underground.''

In the Peloton commercial, Monica Ruiz portrays a wife who receives an exercise bike as a Christmas present, and chronicles her yearlong journey to get in shape.

The commercial ends with the wife thanking her husband for the gift.

After the ad aired, the character began to catch heat for several reasons.

Some viewrs pointed out the fact that Ruiz was already thin while others mocked her for having a "nervous" expression.Others were angry her husband gave her an exercise gift, implying that she needed to lose weight.

Reynolds thought the viral negativity was unfair, and said it's “a situation that I've been in many times before" as an actor.

"You put it out there, and it doesn't quite work, and you feel a little alienated and stuff. So, I had tremendous empathy for her in that moment,'' Reynolds said at the premiere of his new action flick, "6 Underground."

"Doing the Aviation Gin ad sort of gave her some authorship over some of this conversation, which I loved," he said. "And she's, she's the best. She's really funny, really smart."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Like 1010 WINS on Facebook and follow @1010WINS on Twitter to get breaking news, traffic, and weather for New York City.