DiCaprio Denies Bear Rape Rumor: ‘It’s Absurd!’

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17 (UPI) — Leonardo DiCaprio says he was dumbfounded by reports he gets raped by a bear in The Revenant.

The 41-year-old actor denied the rumor himself at the movie’s Los Angeles premiere Wednesday, two weeks after the Drudge Report set off a firestorm on social media by claiming as much in an article.

“I have no idea where these ridiculous things come from, and what you do when you hear stuff like that,” DiCaprio told E! News on the red carpet. “It’s absurd. It’s absurd.”

The blazing headline on the Drudge Report on Nov. 29 linked to a blog post by veteran Hollywood journalist Roger Friedman on his website Showbiz411.

“The bear flips Glass [DiCaprio’s character] over on his belly and molests him – dry humps him actually – as he nearly devours him,” Friedman wrote after seeing the film.

A second critic was quoted as saying DiCaprio was “raped” by the bear in the scene.

Fox denied that DiCaprio’s character was raped, telling Entertainment Weekly, “As anyone who has seen the movie can attest, the bear in the film is a female who attacks Hugh Glass because she feels he might be threatening her cubs. There is clearly no rape scene with a bear.”

The Revenant follows Glass (DiCaprio) on his quest for revenge after he is robbed and left for dead by his companions following a bear attack. The actor did experience harsh conditions while filming, including eating bison liver for the movie.

“It’s something that I won’t repeat, that’s for sure,” DiCaprio told E!. “We submerged ourselves in the elements for this film. We really wanted to create something incredibly authentic so these types of adventures lend themselves to taking chances like that.”

The Revenant is based on the Michael Punke novel of the same name, which dramatizes Glass’ real-life story. Birdman director Alejandro G. Inarritu helmed the film, which co-stars Tom Hardy, Will Poulter and Domhnall Gleeson.