Ryan Reynolds’ talking ugly sweater helps SickKids raise more than $580K

Watch: How Ryan Reynolds is helping SickKids Ryan Reynolds and his ugly Christmas sweater is back and raising funds for SickKids hospital this holiday season.

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and his now-talking ugly Christmas sweater raised more than $580,000 for Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in 2022.

This is the Vancouver-born star’s fourth consecutive holiday campaign. In total the “Sweater Love” movement, which was inspired by a real-life ugly sweater gag, helped the SickKids Foundation raise over $2.2 million.

For this year’s campaign, Reynolds brought fellow Canadian actor Seth Rogan into the fold—playing the important role of his now iconic red and green sweater.

In a video, which launched “Sweater Love,” Reynolds is constantly interrupted by the talking sweater.

“As a sweater and a fellow Canadian that comes out but once a year I’ve grown a little tired of Ryan’s like self-deprecating, deadpan jokes,” the animated sweater, voiced by Rogan, says. “Instead, revel in the wonder of a talking sweater as you make a donation to SickKids.”

A number of athletes and politicians have taken part in the campaign, including Toronto Maple Leafs player Auston Matthews who made a brief appearance in the campaign video.

In a news release issued Thursday, SickKids hospital said the 2022 “Sweater Love” campaign raised more than $580,000 for the hospital’s campus redevelopment project. This included a $100,000 donation by Samsung Canada, who said it would match donations made before midnight on Christmas Eve.

Last year, more than $640,000 was raised after 5,000 ugly sweater replica t-shirts were handed out to front-line workers and a number of patients were surprised with festive-themed blankets.

The symbol of the campaign—the “aesthetically challenged” sweater—is based off a real clothing item Reynolds purchased when he was tricked by fellow actors Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaall into thinking a party he was attending was sweater themed.