Robert Downey Jr sparks is accused of making a racist remark about Mexican director

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Avengers star made remarks about Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
The 51-year-old won best director for Birdman at this year's Oscars
Said in an interview last year superhero films represent 'cultural genocide'
Downey Jr said for a Spanish-speaking man to use a phrase like that 'speaks to how bright he is'
Comments come just days after he walked out of a TV interview in Britain

Published: 09:26 EST, 25 April 2015 | Updated: 10:59 EST, 25 April 2015

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Robert Downey Jr has been accused of making a racist remark about an Oscar-winning Mexican director during an interview.

The actor, who is promoting his new film Avengers: Age of Ultron, was asked what he thought of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's claim that superhero movies were 'cultural genocide'.

The Hollywood star told The Guardian: 'Look I respect the heck out of him. I think for a man whose native tongue is Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like 'cultural genocide' just speaks to how bright he is.'

The controversial comments sparked a furious backlash on Twitter, with some calling it 'racist' and 'ignorant'.

It comes just three days after the 50-year-old, who plays Iron Man in the film, walked out of an interview with Britain's Channel 4 after interviewer Krishnan Guru-Murthy talked about his history of drug abuse and his time in prison.

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Robert Downey Jr (left) has been accused of making a racist remark about Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu during an interview. The Avengers star said: 'I think for a man whose native tongue is Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like 'cultural genocide' just speaks to how bright he is'

Mr Inarritu, who took home the Academy Award for best director for Birdman at this year's ceremony, slammed action films in an interview with Deadline in 2014.

He said: 'I sometimes enjoy them because they are basic and simple and go well with popcorn. The problem is that sometimes they purport to be profound, based on some Greek mythological kind of thing. And they are honestly very right wing.

'I always see them as killing people because they do not believe in what you believe, or they are not being who you want them to be.

'I hate that, and don't respond to those characters. They have been poison, this cultural genocide, because the audience is so overexposed to plot and explosions and shit that doesn't mean nothing about the experience of being human.

He added: 'Superheroes…just the word hero bothers me. What the f*** does that mean?

'It's a false, misleading conception, the superhero. Then, the way they apply violence to it, it's absolutely right wing.

'If you observe the mentality of most of those films, it's really about people who are rich, who have power, who will do the good, who will kill the bad. Philosophically, I just don't like them.'

The comments came just three days after the 50-year-old, who plays Iron Man in the film, walked out of an interview with Britain's Channel 4 after the interviewer talked about his history of drug abuse

The Avengers cast face questions at UK press conference

The Avengers: Age of Ultron press tour has been mired in controversy.

Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans were forced to apologize on Thursday for calling co-star Scarlett Johansson's character in the blockbuster movie a 'slut,' saying it was just a tasteless joke.

Renner, who reprises his role as Hawkeye in the sequel 'Avengers: Age of Ultron,' made the offending comments in a TV interview alongside fellow superhero star Evans, who plays Captain America.

An interviewer asked them what they thought about Johansson's character, Black Widow, opting not to get together romantically with either of them.

'She's a slut!' Renner told the Digital Spy interviewer, triggering huge guffaws from Evans, who added: 'I was going to say something along that line... a complete whore.'

Social media, perhaps inevitably, went ballistic, and on Thursday Renner's publicist issued an apology on his behalf, saying the actor was simply exhausted from the slog of promoting the new movie.

'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,' he said.

Evans' representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a statement to Entertainment Weekly he said: 'We answered in a very juvenile and offensive way that rightfully angered some fans.

'I regret it and sincerely apologize.'

The comments sparked a furious backlash on Twitter, with some calling it racist and ignorant

During a recorded interview which aired in the UK on Wednesday, Downey Jr looked visibly uncomfortable when he was asked personal questions.

The news anchor asked Downey Jr to explain a comment in a five year-old interview with the New York Times, in which he said: 'You can't go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal.'

Responding, Downey Jr, 50, said: 'I could pick that apart for two hours and be no closer to the truth than giving you some half-arsed answer right now. I couldn't even tell you what a liberal is.'

But, when asked about his relationship with his father, Downey Jnr gets up and says: 'I'm sorry, I really don't... what are we doing?' before walking out of the interview.

Seemingly amused with the reaction, Guru-Murthy can be seen smiling and gesticulating as a production team-member tried to remove Robert's clip-on microphone.

At that point he turns and says: 'It's all getting a bit Diane Sawyer [a U.S. journalist known for her investigative interviewing].'

The original 2012 The Avengers became the third-highest grossing movie in cinema history, taking more than $1.5 billion at the box office, only beaten by Avatar (2009) and Titanic (1997).

The newest version is set for release in the United States on May 1.