Cop-out

That's a cheap cop-out.

His disappearance on the day of the audition was just a cop-out.

“It’s interesting what he stayed away from,” said Cameron. “Look, I love the film-making, but I did feel that it was a bit of a moral cop-out.”

It was a cop-out to say he couldn't sign the petition because he sprained his wrist.

He's always a cop-out when there's hard work to be done.

Even when they are talking one-on-one, we aren't allowed to see behind the posturing and emblematic language. The major exception to this is Da Mayor […] who is both scorned and respected, seen as both a cop-out and a hero.