As I'm sure you've seen by now, Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans have caused a bit of a controversy by referring to a question about Black Widow seemingly becoming involved with Bruce Banner in the new Avengers movie instead of either Renner's Hawkeye or Evans' Captain America, and their responses were...wow.

What I think gets me more is their APOLOGIES, well, at least Renner's.

Here's Evans' apology: "Yesterday we were asked about the rumors that Black Widow wanted to be in a relationship with both Hawkeye and Captain America. We answered in a juvenile and offensive way that rightfully angered some fans. I regret it and sincerely apologize"

While here's Renner's, "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."

As you can see, Evans went with a legit "My bad, sorry," while Renner went with the classic, "Sorry that you were offended."

The thing that gets me about Renner is that he seems so calculating about some of this stuff. Remember his Golden Globes bit with Jennifer Lopez?

And there, too, his "apology" was "don't take things too seriously."

It's certainly fair to say that these things aren't extremely important issues, but they're not nothing. It's not "just" a joke when the entire hook of the joke is calling a woman (even a fictional woman) a slut because she is dating another guy. Slip of the tongue while you're overworked doing press junkets? Sure, fair enough. Just say that. But own it like Evans did. Concede that it WAS an offensive joke. But what's particularly disappointing is when Renner seems to be trying to be OVERTLY crass, in a sort of calculated "See! I'm a bad boy!" manner. I guess what's even more disappointing is that Renner might be correct and that doing this is probably better for his career.