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Jeremy Renner: Seriously Though, Black Widow's A Slut

By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | May 5, 2015 |

By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | May 5, 2015 |


Look. Junkets can be grueling. I know that, and as a reporter I get the easier end of them, the end where I’m not trapped in a hotel room under hot lights and open mics for hours on end being asked the same questions again and again. So sometimes stars slip and say dumb shit they regret. Then there’s Jeremy Renner.

During the Avengers: Age of Ultron junket, he got asked a playful question about how fans like to ‘ship Black Widow with just about every Avenger. In response, he giggled like an idiot and called her a “slut.” Then the internet rebelled and he apologized. Sort of.

But now the dust has settled and Renner’s had some time to take in why Marvel fans didn’t appreciate him reducing the only female Avenger to a gender-biased slur. And he’s learned fucking nothing.

“Internet trouble I guess is a thing you can get into now.” Renner, quit it. You’re 44, not 104. But okay, here’s what his defense boils down to:

1) If Black Widow slept with every guy in the Avengers, she would be a slut. That’s just science.
2) The same would be true if Conan slept with five of the Avengers “no matter how much fun you had.”
3) It doesn’t matter anyway because Black Widow is a fictional character.

Honestly, I didn’t really care that much when Renner biffed the question the first time around, but this shit isn’t acceptable.

First off, “slut” is not a word we use with men. It’s just not. So the whole, “Conan, you’d be a slut” thing is a false equivalency. Sleeping around makes men macho, and makes women’s sluts and whores. That’s the definition of slut-shaming, Renner. It’s a thing on the internet. Look it up.

Secondly, Black Widow is a fictional character, but as the only female teammate in the Avengers (pre Age of Ultron), she’s an important role model to girls—what with being part of one of the most massive movie franchises of all time. So maybe don’t reduce her to her sex parts. Maybe recognize the massive discrepancy of how she is treated—and how your co-star Scarlett Johansson is treated—and how the dudes are. Maybe take a cue from the friggin’ Hulk:

Kristy Puchko once asked Renner about the Hawkeye Initiative, and he was cool about it. Which makes this suck harder.