Jared Leto: The Man That Will Somehow NEVER Leave Hollywood
Stop trying to make Jared Leto happen, he's NOT going to happen.
Jared Leto’s continued prominence in Hollywood always leaves me befuddled.
This week the actor has been in the headlines after his latest film, ‘Tron: Ares,’ somehow had an even worse opening weekend than his infamous flop, ‘Moribus.’
For most actors, continually tanking at the box office would decimate their A-list celebrity status, yet Jared Leto seems immune to this.
Despite reports of predatory behaviour, including sexual harassment, and even claims the actor is running a cult, Leto continues to maintain his status in Hollywood.
Unsurprisingly the Hollywood gatekeepers seem to look the other way when it comes to Leto’s history of disturbing behaviour.
Back in June, multiple women came forward with allegations against Leto claiming he acted inappropriately towards them when they were teenagers.
Despite knowing the women were underage at the time, Leto allegedly sought out their phone numbers and sent sexually explicit messages.
A month earlier, DJ Allie Teilz, re-shared a 2012 Facebook post claiming Jared Leto “forced himself” onto her while backstage at a show.
“I was assaulted and traumatised by this creep when I was 17,” she wrote, “he knew my age and didn’t care - what he did was predatory, terrifying and unacceptable.”
Even Marvel/DC director, James Gunn, reiterated Jared Leto’s predatory behaviour.
In 2022, in response to a Dylan Sprouse tweet that accused Jared Leto of “sliding into the DMs of every female model aged 18-25,” Gunn replied “he starts at 18 on the internet?”
Even as early as 2005, the New York Post wrote an article alleging Leto “aggressively pursued” teen models, with claims from an anonymous source that the actor was “infamous for calling and texting some of his underage objects of desire several times a day.”
There’s even been claims Leto dated Ashley Oslen and Lindsay Lohan in their teen years.
But Leto’s series of distressing behaviour doesn’t stop there.
Over the years he’s routinely used his bizarre commitment to method acting as an excuse to harass his cast-mates.
While filming ‘Suicide Squad,’ Leto sent his cast-mates a dead pig, unwrapped condoms, bullets, sticky Playboy magazines and anal beads - just so he could fulfil his method acting fantasies.
He even sent his co-star, Margot Robbie, a live rat.
In more bizarre news, Jared Leto also appears to be a cult leader.
Fans of his band ‘30 Seconds To Mars’ call themselves the Echelon and have even dubbed Leto ‘The Prophet.’
Leto now hosts retreats at ‘Mars Island’ for his Echelon where they dress in all white and participate in communal yoga.
Former fan Jenika Enoch wrote a personal essay detailing their experience at the “overpriced” retreat, saying the cult is “really not a cult” but “jared thinks it is and/or wants it to be.”
“There was this constant feeling like you had to compete with others for attention to get your money’s worth,” writes Enoch, “it’s a terrible feeling and that is exactly how Jared has molded the fanbase.”
Leto’s relationship with his Echelon has reached bizarre heights over the years.
He famously made fans get the lyrics from “Do Or Die” tattooed for a chance to be in his new lyric video.
There was even a competition where the winner gets to spend a night in Leto’s bed - they entered by pre-ordering the band’s newest album.
These strange demands are sometimes met with equally extreme fan responses; in one notorious incident, a fan mailed him their severed ear, which Leto later admitted to wearing as a necklace.
It’s honestly not surprising to see Hollywood execs ignore the predatory side of Jared Leto.
Heck, abusive men like Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Bill Murray and Woody Allen always seem to be welcomed back in the studios with open arms.
But from a capitalist-financial perspective, Jared Leto can’t be making these people much money when he can’t even bring people to the theatres.
‘Morbius’ grossed $167.5 million worldwide against a reported budget of $75 million.
That’s a loss of $92.5 million.
And yet according to The Hollywood Reporter, Leto was still paid seven figures for his role in ‘Tron,’ plus a seven-figure producing fee.
And is set to star in MGM/Mattel’s Masters of the Universe as He-Man’s antagonist, Skeletor.
So why is Hollywood so obsessed with making Jared Leto an ever-present figure in Hollywood?
Why is Hollywood so reluctant in cancelling him?
If he can’t bring audiences to the theatres why are Hollywood execs paying him seven figures to appear in ‘‘Tron: Ares?’
Isn’t it interesting how we give men like Jared Leto so many chances at carrying a franchise?
If sexual assault allegations won’t get him exiled from Hollywood, will low box office sales finally be the nail in the coffin for Jared Leto’s acting career?