Ryan Reynolds made hundreds of millions playing the charming everyman who gets regular folks.
But his mask just slipped in spectacular fashion.
And Ryan Reynolds just exposed what Hollywood really thinks about Middle America.
Hollywood elite reveals his true contempt for flyover country
The Deadpool star thought he'd found the perfect suckers for his new boxed wine brand.
Ryan Reynolds launched Ugly Estates exclusively in Minnesota after the product flopped in Texas — and his explanation for the strategy exposed the coastal elite contempt bubbling beneath his aw-shucks persona.
Reynolds told the Star Tribune he picked Minnesota because sophisticated East Coast elites at Martha's Vineyard wouldn't "get it" the way Minnesotans would.¹
"You want to go to places that will get it," Reynolds explained. "I don't think Martha's Vineyard is going to really embrace this the way Minnesota might."²
Let that sink in.
This Hollywood millionaire — worth $350 million from selling gin and cell phone service — looked at a map of America and decided Minnesotans were unsophisticated enough to buy cheap wine in a cardboard box.
The Vancouver-born actor doubled down by suggesting Minnesota's brutal winters somehow condition residents to accept inferior products.
"Funny people come out of Minnesota. Funny people come out of eastern Canada," Reynolds said. "When you're freezing your butt off in the winter months, you're huddled together. And when you're huddled together, you're sparking ideas."³
Translation: Cold weather makes you stupid enough to drink boxed wine.
Reynolds — who's visited Minnesota exactly twice in his entire life — called the state an "underdog" while comparing it unfavorably to the liberal elite playground of Martha's Vineyard.⁴
This is the same Martha's Vineyard that shipped illegal immigrants off the island within 48 hours because they didn't want them disrupting their wealthy enclave.
The Hollywood playbook backfires spectacularly
Here's what Reynolds and his Maximum Effort marketing company didn't count on: Americans are sick of coastal elites treating them like idiots.
Even in blue states.
Minnesota resident Katie Paulson torched Reynolds on Instagram: "Ryan has only been to Minnesota 2 times in his life & knows nothing about us. I guess he thinks Minnesotans are cheap and lack taste. He tried to bring the wine to Texas but it failed."⁵
That detail destroys Reynolds' entire con — Texas rejected his boxed wine first, so he pivoted to Minnesota thinking they'd be easier marks.
The Lone Star State saw through his condescending pitch immediately.
When your backup plan for selling cheap wine is "find dumber customers," you've exposed exactly how Hollywood views Middle America.
Social media erupted with residents pointing out Minnesota produced Prince, Bob Dylan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Judy Garland — cultural icons who shaped American art while Reynolds was still parking cars in Vancouver.
"What is this guy even saying??" one commenter asked. "The whole marketing strategy behind this is so bizarre…like who does he think he's enticing??"⁶
Another wrote: "As someone born in Minnesota with friends and family it's insulting…'don't ya know' what an a**."⁷
One Instagram user demolished Reynolds' "underdog" characterization: "There is nothing underdog about our state other than having a football team that can never win the Super Bowl. News flash to Ryan most people who drink wine here don't drink boxed wine."⁸
Reynolds' fortune was built on fooling regular Americans
This disaster reveals the formula behind Reynolds' business empire.
He sold Aviation Gin to Diageo for $610 million in 2020 by positioning himself as the anti-celebrity celebrity — just a regular guy who happens to make great gin.
He pocketed $300 million from T-Mobile's $1.35 billion Mint Mobile acquisition by playing the everyman fighting big wireless companies.
The whole act was brilliant marketing — until Reynolds forgot to stay in character.
His Ugly Estates pitch exposed what Hollywood liberals really think when the cameras aren't rolling: Middle America is full of unsophisticated rubes who'll buy anything if you market it right.
Reynolds described his wine as offering "33% more wine, 100% less snob" with the tagline positioned against wine industry elitism.⁹
But Reynolds himself is the snob — an out-of-touch coastal elite who married Blake Lively, hangs out with Taylor Swift, and thinks Martha's Vineyard represents sophisticated taste while Minnesota represents the opposite.
The irony couldn't be more perfect.
This is the same Hollywood crowd that lectures Americans about climate change from their private jets, preaches about inequality from their gated communities, and demands regular folks accept policies they'd never tolerate in their own neighborhoods.
Reynolds just said the quiet part out loud: they think you're beneath them.
Minnesota — a state that went for Biden and elected Tim Walz — rejected Reynolds' condescension so thoroughly that even blue state voters couldn't stomach his coastal elite attitude.
That should terrify Hollywood.
When you've lost Middle America so badly that even Democrats are calling you an elitist snob, your mask didn't just slip — it shattered completely.
¹ Fox News, "Ryan Reynolds sparks outrage in Minnesota with 'insulting' boxed wine comment," November 6, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Parade, "Ryan Reynolds Sparks Fury with 'Insulting' Minnesota vs. Martha's Vineyard Taste Comparison," November 6, 2025.
⁵ Fox News, "Ryan Reynolds sparks outrage in Minnesota with 'insulting' boxed wine comment," November 6, 2025.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Parade, "Ryan Reynolds Sparks Fury with 'Insulting' Minnesota vs. Martha's Vineyard Taste Comparison," November 6, 2025.