When we're in need of a good joke, it's pretty safe to say Deadpool, Green Lantern, and Definitely Maybe star Ryan Reynolds won't let us down.
So when a group of fans created a Change.org petition to name a street after him in Vancouver, Canada? The results were bound to be hilarious.
The petition went live last Friday, created by Kevin Lim from The Kevin and Sonia Show on 104.9 KiSS RADiO in Vancouver. Lim directed the petition to Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, with the goal of 5,000 signatures.
In the petition, Lim wrote:
"We at The Kevin and Sonia Show with Tara Jean on 104.9 KiSS RADiO feel Vancouver's favourite son, Ryan Reynolds, deserves to have a street named after him (or at least a lane). It's time."
"Not only has he captured our hearts on the big screen, his humanitarian efforts have made him a beloved local treasure who encapsulates the best of Vancouverites, and fully deserving of this recognition in his hometown."
The radio broadcaster went on to list many of the good deeds Reynolds has performed "in 2020 alone," including purchasing 400 pizzas for high school graduates who were not able to celebrate their graduation in the traditional sense due to the pandemic, and pulling money from his own salary to hire more Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) writers for a new film he's working on.
The petition immediately gained traction on Change.org and via Twitter.
But when Reynolds discovered the petition, he responded in what Lim later called "the most Ryan Reynolds way."
Very kind but hard pass. If traffic sucks everyone will say, “Ryan Reynolds is a mess" or “Ryan Reynolds is really backed up".
My brothers would enjoy this too much.
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) November 28, 2020
Despite Reynolds' rejection of the idea, the radio station was still unsure how to proceed.
Lim returned to the petition with an update and inquiry:
"Deep breath here... Ryan just responded in the most Ryan Reynolds way."
"So... should we keep it going, even if it's just for the hilarious puns and the reasons he listed?"
"(PS: A HUGE thank you to everyone who signed and shared this - especially to our Kevin and Sonia Show listeners who started this all!)"
Fans of The Kevin and Sonia Show and Ryan Reynolds of course kept the petition going.
After seeing Reynolds' reply, they came back with puns for days.
Much to the radio station"s delight, the petition has gained nearly 4,000 signatures in the week it's been live.
Though Reynolds may not want a street to be named after him in his hometown of Vancouver, it seems very likely fans will not be quick to let this idea go.
At the very least, we suspect a street or location to be nicknamed Ryan Reynolds, which would be a hilarious, if unofficial, inside joke for Vancouverites and Reynolds fans alike.
