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Video: Jeremy Renner Won't Stop Slut-Shaming Women
Jeremy Renner is quickly becoming that weird uncle who makes family gatherings uncomfortable because you know he's going to say something creepy or misogynistic. Earlier this year, he stared at J. Lo's boobs while announcing an award at the Golden Globes and called her breasts "globes." (Shudder) Then he called the Black Widow character from Avengers: Age of Ultron a "slut" during a press interview. Then he did it again on TBS' Conan last night.
Conan O'Brien brought up the whole slut-shaming fiasco and the backlash that followed. It was a chance for Renner to clear the air and apologize, but instead he doubled down. He started off explaining himself: "It was a joke—off-colored, whatever. Yeah, I'm unapologetic about a lot of things."
Then he said, "I got in a lot of Internet trouble. That's a thing now that you can get in."
Because the Internet is mad about what he said, not actual people. And then he switched gears to retrace those moments that led to his slut-shaming:
"I was asked a question, 'So Black Widow's been linked to Hawkeye, Iron Man, Bruce Banner and Captain America,'" Renner told O'Brien. "'So what do you think about that?' Well I said, 'It sounds like she's a slut.' Now, mind you, I was talking about a fictional character with fictional behavior. If you slept with four of the six avengers—no matter how much fun you had—you'd be a slut. I'd be a slut."
That's the sound of Renner's PR rep gasping. No media training can hold Renner down!
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Writer Leora Tanenbaum explained the problem with slut-shaming—even a fictional character—in the Huffington Post:
Slut-shaming is the experience of being labeled a sexually out-of-control girl or woman (a "slut" or "ho") and then being punished socially for possessing this identity. Slut-shaming is sexist because only girls and women are called to task for their sexuality, whether real or imagined; boys and men are congratulated for the exact same behavior. This is the essence of the sexual double standard: Boys will be boys, and girls will be sluts.
Daily Dot pointed out that Renner got the facts wrong about Black Widow:
Black Widow has only had one love interest over the course of four movies: Bruce Banner in Age of Ultron. She's clearly characterized as having a platonic friendship with Captain America and Hawkeye, and her main relationship with Tony Stark was spying on him while working undercover in Iron Man 2. Judging by the fanfiction produced by the Avengers fandom, people see more romantic subtext between Captain America and Iron Man than between Black Widow and any of her male teammates.
After Renner first slut-shamed Black Widow during his Digital Spy interview, he released the following statement: “I am sorry that this tasteless joke about a fictional character offended anyone. It was not meant to be serious in any way. Just poking fun during an exhausting and tedious press tour.”
It seems like Renner is once again having one of those "sorry-not-sorry" moments.
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