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When Robert Downey Jr stormed out of interview after being asked about controversial past, called journalist ‘syphilitic parasite’
In 2015, during the publicity tour for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Robert Downey Jr walked out of an interview after being confronted about his past.
Things took an unpleasant turn during the British leg of the publicity tour for Avengers: Age of Ultron for actor Robert Downey Jr. Questioned about his controversial past, the actor walked out of an interview with Channel-4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy, later calling him a “bottom-feeding muckraker.”
During the interview, Guru-Murthy, who had previously had a similar experience with filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, said to Downey, “The reason I’m asking you about your past is you’ve talked in other interviews about your relationship with your father and the role in all of that of the dark periods you went through, taking drugs and drinking and all of that. I just wondered whether you think you’re free of all of that or whether that’s something…”
The actor cut him off and asked, “What are we doing? Are we promoting a movie?”, and then walked out. Later, speaking to radio host Howard Stern, Downey said he didn’t have any regrets about walking out of the interview. “I just wish I’d left sooner,” he said. He added, “What I have to do in the future is ... give myself permission to say, ‘That is more than likely a syphilitic parasite, and I need to distance myself from this clown.’ Otherwise, I’m probably going to put hands on somebody, and then there’s a real story.”
Downey continued, “I’m one of those guys who is assuming the social decorum is in play and that we’re promoting a superhero movie, a lot of kids are going to see it. This has nothing to do with your creepy, dark agenda that I’m feeling, like, all of a sudden ashamed and obligated to accommodate your weirdo sh*t.”
Guru-Murthy defended his line of questioning. “When Robert Downey Jr.’s PR man rang up asking what we wanted to talk about, we said we had no particular agenda but would ask about the new Avengers superhero movie and his recovery from jail and drug abuse to Hollywood stardom,” he wrote in the Guardian.
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