Jay Leno Under Fire For Making Fun Of Jeremy Renner’s Accident

Jay Leno is in trouble after he made a joke about Jeremy Renner's snowplow accident, saying he crashed into the snowplow.

By Chris Snellgrove | Updated

jay leno

After Jeremy Renner’s horrifying snowplow accident that landed him in the hospital, there has been a constant outpouring of love and support for the Marvel Cinematic Universe actor. For a time, it seemed like nobody had anything bad to say about the actor who brought Hawkeye to life. However, Jay Leno recently made a joke about Jeremy Renner’s accident, and it opened up an entire can of worms that the older comedian likely never saw coming.

As jokes go, Jay Leno’s crack about Jeremy Renner was rather bland and unoriginal (in other words, a typical Leno joke). He claimed that he was riding his motorcycle around Lake Tahoe when he accidentally crashed into Renner’s snowplow. It looks like Leno was hoping for the likes to start rolling in, and he found out the hard way what it’s like not having a live studio audience that is forced to laugh at his “jokes.”

The most direct criticism of Jay Leno’s attempt to dunk on Jeremy Renner was that it was a horrific accident that nobody should be joking about in the first place. For example, some users pointed out how the actor broke 30 bones, all while trying to save his nephew’s life. It would be bad enough simply mocking someone for suffering such an extreme series of injuries, and the fact that Leno was so heartless about an act of heroism made the comedian seem downright cold.

Other users reacted to Jay Leno joking about Jeremy Renner by pointing out that Leno, a man who retired from comedy, should stay retired and not unleash these forced jokes on us. In its own way, these are probably some of the more stinging comments because Leno in his prime had an entire writing team crafting the jokes which helped keep him famous. If this crack about Renner is an example of what Leno can come up with on his own, it’s enough to make many people wonder if he was ever actually funny in the first place.

jeremy renner accident

Of course, since Jay Leno didn’t hold back in joking about Jeremy Renner’s injuries, some Twitter users decided they wouldn’t hold back when referencing Leno’s injuries. For context, one of Leno’s beloved classic cars caught fire last November, causing serious burns to his face, hands, and chest. Because of this, some users questioned whether Leno’s sense of humor was lost in the smoke, and others pointed out that with Leno’s own recent bad luck, he should focus on his own well-being instead of mocking someone else for getting hurt.

Hovering over all of this is that Jay Leno has no personal relationship with Jeremy Renner at all, and this is what makes his joke so tasteless. Previously, Renner’s friends and fellow MCU actors like Chris Evans have joked about the accident, but only after previously expressing genuine concern over his welfare and then making sure he was okay (Renner is now recovering at home). Leno really has no place to joke about Renner and no excuse for how bad the joke was on every level, and we’d be happy to never hear from the comedian again unless he plans on headlining a new series called Comedians in Cars Getting Combusted.