Jennifer Lawrence’s recent essay pointing out the gender pay gap in Hollywood was the latest in a series of incidences this year of celebrities highlighting the issue in a high-profile manner. While it has received a warm reception from almost all of Lawrence’s colleagues, her American Hustle co-star Jeremy Renner has said it is “not my job” to assist female actors in negotiating equal pay deals.

44 year old Renner was asked by Business Insider on Tuesday (October 20th) whether he would play an active role in helping female co-stars in negotiating fair deals, he replied: “That’s not my job… …I don’t know contracts and money and all that sort of stuff.”

Jeremy RennerJeremy Renner was asked about Jennifer Lawrence's essay

It comes soon after Bradley Cooper – who also starred in American Hustle – committed himself to doing what he could to help women get improved salaries in Hollywood in an interview with Reuters, and so Renner was questioned as to whether he shared the same sentiments.

While the Avengers actor was keen to point out that he naturally supported equitable deals for female actors, he explained: “I’m a performer and I know human behaviour… …When it comes to that sort of stuff I let other people deal with that. I do what I’m good at, that’s what I focus on.”

More: Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans apologise for calling Black Widow “a slut”

Some social media users have picked up on the comments and criticised Renner for his relaxed attitude, with some even calling for his Hawkeye / Clint Barton character in the Marvel universe to be replaced with Kate Bishop, a female version of the same character.

The actor previously found himself on the receiving end of a Twitter storm in May this year when he joked about Scarlett Johannson’s Black Widow character in the Avengers franchise being “a slut” because of her relationships with the other superheroes.

“It was a joke — off-colour or whatever – but yeah, I’m unapologetic about a lot of things and I got in a lot of Internet trouble!” he said at the time by way of showing contrition. “I guess that’s a thing now you can get in.”

More: Jeremy Renner to pay $13,000 a month in child support