Sam’s Club reignites ‘feud’ between Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds

Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds’ decade-long “feud” is back on.

For the holiday season, Sam’s Club has partnered with the two actors to drive donations to nonprofits from purchases of the talents' respective brands.

Every purchase of Jackman’s Laughing Man Coffee or Reynolds’ Aviation Gin at Sam’s Club, will count as a point for either Team Jackman or Team Hugh. Even people who do not make a purchase can still vote at www.samsclub.com/thefeud. Sam’s Club will then choose five winners who will be able to bring a guest to a virtual party with Jackson and Reynolds.

All donations are going to Reynolds’ preferred charity, SickKids Foundation, which drives advances in child health research and care, and Jackman’s own Laughing Man Foundation, which supports coffee farming communities around the world. Sam’s Club really plans on donating an equal, but undisclosed amount, to both organizations and makes this clear on its website: “Winner gets bragging rights. Both get a donation to their preferred charity from Sam’s Club.” The donation drive began on November 10 and continues through December 20.

To promote the activation, Sam’s Club is running two ads on social media created by Reynolds’ ad agency Maximum Effort and production company Escape Velocity, which have worked on previous ads for the stars. In one spot, called “Forgiveness,” the “Deadpool” star and the “X-Men” star end up swapping insults as they sit in armchairs in front of a fire together (see above). “Ryan is the canned cranberry sauce of human beings,” mocks Jackman, while Reynolds retorts with: “Like mistletoe, Hugh just makes things awkward.”

In the other spot, called “Arguing,” Reynolds says “arguing has been an essential part of family life since, well, forever and forever” and the two go on to say that this holiday season, arguing can actually help out people if you shop at Sam’s Club.

The ads were written by Ryan Reynolds and George Dewey, president of Maximum Effort. Reynolds and Jackman also teased the collaboration on their social channels at the end of October.

“Our members expect something special when they shop—and they deserve it more than ever this holiday season,” said Tony Rogers, chief member officer, Sam’s Club, in a statement. “The Feud at Sam’s Club is the latest way we’re bringing something special to our members, all while supporting two worthy causes.”

Some background on Reynolds’ and Jackman’s “feud”: The actors have been throwing jabs at each other throughout this past decade and multiple “Deadpool” movies, ever since their days filming 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

Apparently the charade (because the two are actually pals) began over Jackman being protective of Reynolds’ then-wife Scarlett Johansson, Jackman told The Daily Beast last April. Fans eat up every barb.

But in 2019, the two actors called a “truce” to make ads for each others’ brands. Most recently, Maximum Effort created, while Reynolds provided the voiceover for, a hilarious spot for Laughing Man, in which the actor shows how grumpy he actually is before he has his morning coffee.