Legendary actor Robert Downey Jr. is finally opening up about what charged his hasty exit from an interview with a British journalist a week ago.
During a guest spot with Howard Stern on SiriusXM satellite radio Tuesday, Downey opened up about Channel 4 News reporter Krishnan Guru-Murthy’s “creepy agenda” during an Avengers: Age of Ultron promotional interview, and described the reporter as a “weirdo.”
After a Guru-Murthy went off topic and began to inquire about the RDJ’s, at times, troubled past, the actor walked out after becoming visibly upset.
“It’s just getting a little Diane Sawyer in here,” Downey said as he abruptly left last week.
Now, the actor says his only regret is having not left sooner.
“I’m one of those guys who I’m 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 that this has nothing to do with your creepy dark agenda,” he told Stern.
He went on to describe Guru-Murthy as a “bottom-feeding muckraker,” and cited a similar incident involving the reporter and director Quentin Tarantino in 2013 regarding censorship.
Stern then commented that Downey is not running for president, and should feel no obligation to answer questions unrelated to the film.
“The assumption is that there’s a button that because you’ve sat down there you’re going to be scrutinized like you’re a kiddie fiddler who’s running for mayor,” Downey replied. “What I have to do in the future is have to 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.”
Listen to a sample of the interview below:
Watch: Guru-Murthy’s 2013 Quentin Tarantino interview: