Jared Leto has clarified that he never gave Suicide Squad co-star Margot Robbie a dead rat, which in itself is hilarious.

Stories of Jared Leto’s oddball Suicide Squad antics have dominated headlines in the years since that insufferable, ugly film was first willed into existence. Leto recently sat down with GQ in promotion of the forthcoming Justice League film to shed light on his bizarre behaviour.

It turns out that the legend of Leto gifting Robbie a dead rat is nothing more than a miscommunication down the grapevine. Leto has confirmed that he did in fact gift Australia’s sweetheart a rat, but it was very much alive.

“It’s also interesting how this stuff all takes on a life of its own. But I never gave Margot Robbie a dead rat, that’s just not true,” he clarified.

The bastardized rat rumour probably stems from a GQ interview Robbie did back in 2016 during an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.

On receiving the much-maligned gift, Robbie mused: “At first I thought this was disgusting. But then after that…I was like, I’m not going to kill him.”

She continued, “So I ended up keeping him as a pet. I ended up getting him like a sweet little playpen, a slide, a hammock, and a leash because I wanted to take him to set and walk him around… But then our landlord at the place I was staying found out.”

Love Film & TV?

Get the latest Film & TV news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more

Thankfully, it seems that the pampered little rat was the only livestock Leto gifted Robbie. The rest of his gifts were considerably less deranged.

“I actually gave her a lot of … I found this place in Toronto that had great vegan cinnamon buns, and that was a very common thing,” Leto explained.

Though, as costar Viola Davis reveals, Jared Leto once enlisted the help of one of his “henchmen” to deliver a dead pig to the Suicide Squad cast. The cast reportedly went on to stage a kidnapping of the assistant in character, sending photos back to Leto, whom they referred to as “Mr. J.”

“Now I’m terrified as a person thinking ‘is he crazy?’ but the second part was ‘Oh s–t! I got to have my stuff together,” Davis mused of the experience.

I don’t know what’s going on in the Suicide Squad camp but we can’t allow this chaotic behaviour to continue. Heath Ledger already delivered the definitive troubled Joker performance. It’s time for superheroes to return to their campy, fun glory.

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine