Robert Downey Jr. had plenty of creative insults to describe the British reporter on whom he walked out of an interview last week when asked about his past instead of “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
The actor who plays Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel cinematic universe called Channel 4 reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy a “clown,” “syphilitic parasite” and “bottom-feeding muckraker” when asked about the awkward encounter during a “Howard Stern Show” interview on SiriusXM Tuesday.
“I just wish I had left sooner,” Downey told Stern. “First of all, I don’t even know the guy’s name, but I know he pulled the same garbage on [Quentin] Tarantino, and Tarantino stayed in his chair and lit him up for five minutes.”
Guru-Murthy pressed Tarantino to defend his position that there is no link between movie violence and real-life violence during a press junket for “Django Unchained.” While speaking to Downey, the reporter asked about the actor’s past alcohol and drug problems.
“It’s just getting a little Diane Sawyer in here,” Downey said before walking off camera.
“I’m one of the guys who is always assuming the social, kind of decorum is in play, and that we’re promoting a superhero movie — a lot of kids are going to see it — and this has nothing to do with your creepy, dark agenda,” Downey continued to explain to Stern. “I just realized, too, that I’m a 50-year-old guy, I use fancy words on ‘The Howard Stern Show,’ and yet I’m completely un-evolved when it comes down to simple boundaries. Like, ‘You know what? You’re weirding me out. You are a bottom-feeding muckraker.’”
Downey complained that the media believes there is an assumption that celebrities and other public figures agree “to be scrutinized” like a politician when they sit down for an interview.
The actor concluded, “What I have to do in the future is just give myself permission to say that this 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.”
Listen to the interview with Downey Jr. below.