The Russo Brothers Address Backlash Over Martin Scorsese Dog Joke

Martin Scorsese is known for helming many iconic films, and his most recent movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, has gotten rave reviews. However, it's not his most successful film from a box office perspective. Thanks to the director's daughter, Francesca Scorsese, the Oscar winner has been seen in various TikTok videos, including one where he's coaching his dog, Oscar. This video prompted a funny response from Joe Russo, the co-director of Avengers: Endgame. In the video, Russo jokes that his dog's name is "Box Office," referring to the success of his Marvel films. However, the video got a lot of hate online, because many saw it as Russo taking a jab at Killers of the Flower Moon's box office numbers. Russo was recently joined by his brother, Anthony Russo, in a chat with Kevin Smith. During the interview, Russo discussed the backlash his video received. 

"Yes, everybody does," Russo said when Smith declared that everybody loves Scorsese. "He's one of the reasons, one of the biggest reasons that we're sitting up here, right, it's the influence of his movies. You know, it's interesting because my daughter runs my social media account the way his daughter runs his social media account, and we saw this cute video he did with his dog, and we happen to have an identical dog, they're both Schnauzers, and I thought, 'This is hilarious, this could be really cute.' His video is talking to his dog, he's coaching it through, you know, like he's training his dog like it's going to do a part for him. His dog's name is Oscar."

He continued, "My daughter was like, 'That's funny, what if our dog's name was Box Office?' And I went, 'Oh, that's funny. That's cute.' And then we posted it on TikTok. We do a bunch of TikTok videos together, it's like how I stay connected to my daughter. She has all these funny ideas and we're trying all this shit all the time. And we posted it and then people discovered it like a week after we posted it. I think people conflated the timing of when they discovered it with his movie, which was not the intention. This was just like a broad appeal joke."

Russo went on to call it a "sh*t storm" and joked that he got "Internet-ed." You can watch the video below:

Martin Scorsese on Marvel Movies:

Many believed Russo's video was taking a jab at Scorsese due to the director's past comments about Marvel. Scorsese has been outspoken about disliking Marvel and became a trending topic back in 2019 for comparing superhero films to theme parks. Even today, the Scorsese/Marvel debate rages on. Scorsese has been promoting his new film, Killers of the Flower Moon, and doubled down on his feelings about Marvel while talking to British GQ, saying that the modern studio system is prioritizing "manufactured content" over true art.

"I do think that the manufactured content isn't really cinema," Scorsese said in part. "No, I don't want to say it. But what I mean is that, it's manufactured content. It's almost like AI making a film. And that doesn't mean that you don't have incredible directors and special effects people doing beautiful artwork. But what does it mean? What do these films – what will it give you? Aside from a kind of consummation of something and then eliminating it from your mind, your whole body, you know? So what is it giving you?"

What do you think about Russo's response to the backlash? Tell us in the comments!