Jason Sudeikis is not pleased with the public spectacle that unfolded when Olivia Wilde received custody papers from him at CinemaCon earlier this week.
The "Ted Lasso" star has responded to reports that his ex-fiancée of seven years was handed a cryptic yellow envelope containing the legal documents while introducing her forthcoming movie, "Don't Worry Darling," at the industry event in Las Vegas.
"Papers were drawn up to establish jurisdiction relating to the children of Ms. Wilde and Mr. Sudeikis," read a statement provided Wednesday to The Times.
"Mr. Sudeikis had no prior knowledge of the time or place that the envelope would have been delivered as this would solely be up to the process service company involved and he would never condone her being served in such an inappropriate manner."
Wilde's CinemaCon presentation was interrupted Tuesday when someone placed a thin package marked "Personal and Confidential" on the stage in front of her at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
"This is for me, right? Very mysterious. I'm going to open it now," she said before glancing at its contents onstage. "Is this a script? OK, got it. Thank you."
While many speculated that the filmmaker was given an unsolicited screenplay, Deadline later reported that the folder enclosed custody papers from Sudeikis. Before splitting in 2020, the "Booksmart" director and the "Saturday Night Live" alum had welcomed two children together.
A representative for Wilde did not respond to requests for comment.
In a recent interview with People magazine, a family law attorney based in Southern California explained that process servers are instructed to hand deliver legal and court documents directly to the recipient by any means necessary. The papers must be delivered in a public setting (meaning the process server is not permitted to trespass on the recipient's private property to hand off the docs).
Many were quick to defend Sudeikis on social media after critics insinuated that he ambushed Wilde during CinemaCon on purpose. ("Disgusting," "weird," "immature" and "very unclassy" are a sampling of the words swirling around Sudeikis online.)
"none of you know how legal process works like that is not jason's fault at all," one person tweeted. "jason sudeikis get behind me!!!!"
"i hope u guys realize that jason sudeikis didn't walk on stage and hand her a folder full of papers," wrote another.
At CinemaCon, Wilde revealed the first full-length trailer for her sophomore feature film, "Don't Worry Darling," starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles — to whom the director was romantically linked after she and Sudeikis called it quits.
"The fine folks at Warner Bros. and New Line [Cinema] were crazy enough to take a risk on me when they greenlit my new film: a psychological thriller called 'Don't Worry Darling,'" Wilde told the audience of journalists and entertainment industry members.
"The movie's inspired by movies like 'Inception, 'The Matrix,' 'Truman Show' .... My love letter to the movies that push the boundaries of our imagination. It's ambitious, but I think we made something pretty special."
"Don't Worry Darling" hits theaters Sept. 23.
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(Times staff writer Ryan Faughnder contributed to this report.)
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