‘Was this a publicity stunt?’: Jeremy Renner dances onto stage of ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Jimmy Kimmel’s introduction for his special guest Monday night got a lot of enthusiasm from the audience.
“Please welcome the indestructible Jeremy Renner!” Kimmel shouted.
The 52-year-old “Avengers” star was beaming as he walked onto the stage of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” with a cane and gave the host a hug. He smiled at the audience, who gave him a standing ovation, and even did a little dancing.
Related
So apparently Jeremy Renner can sing — and it’s really not bad
Washoe County sheriff reveals details of ‘Hawkeye’ star Jeremy Renner’s snowplow accident
The moment, which was shared on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Instagram account, comes a little over three months after Renner was run over by a 7-ton snowplow near his home in Reno, Nevada.
“Was this a publicity stunt?” Kimmel joked.
“Absolutely,” Renner said with a laugh.
“Now if there was any question as to who the toughest Avenger was, that’s settled now, right?” Kimmel continued. “Forget Downey, Hemsworth, forget these guys, it’s you, you’re the guy.”
Renner’s appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” comes just a couple of days before the release of his new Disney+ show “Rennervations,” which features the actor traveling around the world to repurpose decommissioned government vehicles for communities in need — a longtime passion of Renner’s, the Deseret News previously reported.
Renner plans to attend the premiere of “Rennervations” in person on April 11.
Related
Jeremy Renner opens up about snowplow accident
A new one-hour special on ABC, now available on Hulu, goes behind-the-scenes of the life-threatening accident that landed Renner in an ICU with more than 30 broken bones.
Renner opened up about the accident in an interview with Diane Sawyer, revealing that he was “awake through every moment.”
Related
As Renner and his nephew, 27-year-old Alex Fries, remember it, the accident occurred as they were towing a family vehicle, a Ford Raptor, out of the snow. After successfully getting the truck out of the snow, Fries undid the chain connecting the two vehicles. The 1988 PistenBully snowplow — which weighs a little over 14,000 pounds — began to slide on the ice, the Deseret News reported. Renner couldn’t see his nephew so he stuck one foot out of the plow to look back and make sure his nephew was safe. He didn’t set the parking brake, and quickly lost his footing and fell out of the snowplow onto the asphalt and ice.
Afraid his nephew would get smashed between the PistenBully and the Ford Raptor, Renner attempted to jump back into the snowplow to disengage it but instead slipped and got run over by the 7-ton vehicle.
“I just happened to be the dummy standing on the dang track a little bit, seeing if my nephew was there,” Renner recalled in the interview with Sawyer, per Deseret News. “You shouldn’t be outside the vehicle when you’re operating it, you know what I mean? It’s like driving a car with one foot out of the car. But it is what it was. And it’s my mistake, and I paid for it.”
Renner spent two weeks at a hospital and underwent a reconstruction of sorts — including titanium rods in his leg, metal in his rib cage and rubber bands and screws in his jaw.
As Renner continues his recovery, he said he is focusing on transforming his suffering into strength — he doesn’t want the memory to become a trauma that haunts him.
“Do you look in the mirror and do you see the same face?” Sawyer asked Renner at one point.
“No,” Renner responded. “I see a lucky man.”
