Jared Leto discusses his infamous Suicide Squad gifts: "It's okay to play some jokes"

Jared Leto Joker — (Image credit: Warner Bros./DC)

Remember Suicide Squad? No, not The Suicide Squad, or that upcoming Suicide Squad game, but David Ayer's DC movie that saw Jared Leto play Joker as a street-level thug with "Damaged" tattooed to his forehead? Ah, it's come flooding back.

Back when that movie was in production, reports spread that Leto had sent his fellow cast members various weird gifts. Viola Davis once said that their introduction to Leto was a henchman coming into the room "with a dead pig and plopped it on the table and then he walked out."

"He sends Margot Robbie a black rat, that was still alive in a box," she continued. "She screamed, and then she kept it."

While promoting the rapturously received House of Gucci, Leto spoke about his behavior, telling Entertainment Weekly that the gifts were "in jest" and that "99.9 percent of what people read is bullshit." He added that "there were no used condoms" sent to anyone, despite the actor himself previously saying that he sent "anal beads" and "used condoms" to "everybody" on set.

"Any of the very few gifts that were ever given were given with a spirit of fun and adventure and received with laughter, fun, and adventure," Leto said in the new interview. "It's all filmed! They filmed it all! People were dying. We were just having a goof."

He went on to say that the only gifts he sent Robbie were cupcakes and "a mouse," and said that "some of the other guys got gifts that you'd get as a joke at a party."

"I'm playing a guy called the Joker, it's okay to play some jokes," he continued. "Nothing ever crossed any lines, and it's not up to other people on the internet to create those lines... I'm an artist at the end of the day. If I do something risky and you don't like it, basically, you can kiss my ass."

Perhaps everyone was in on the joke and went a bit too far with what they were saying about his on-set antics? Whatever the case, Leto's certainly moved on. Be sure to catch him in House of Gucci, out November 26, and Morbius, reaching cinemas January 28, 2022. For more, check out out the most exciting upcoming movies heading your way.

Jack Shepherd is the former Senior Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar. Jack used to work at The Independent as a general culture writer before specializing in TV and film for the likes of GR+, Total Film, SFX, and others. You can now find Jack working as a freelance journalist and editor.