Robert Downey Jr still stands by his Tropic Thunder role, which cast him as an egotistical Australian actor who took method acting to the extreme by playing a Black character after going through “pigmentation alteration” surgery to darken his skin.
Some have criticized Downey Jr for doing Blackface, but he doesn’t agree.
Robert Downey Jr Defended His Role
The actor appeared on Rob Lowe’s “Literally!” podcast to promote Oppenheimer for awards season.
Robert Downey Jr drew comparisons between Tropic Thunder and All In The Family.
“I was looking back at ‘All in the Family,’ and they had a little disclaimer that they were running at the beginning of the show… People should look it up, exactly what it is, because it is an antidote to this clickbait addiction to grievance that [people seem] to have with everything these days.”
The “All in the Family” disclaimer is:
“The program you are about to see is ‘All in the Family.’ It seeks to throw a humorous spotlight on our frailties, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of laughter, we hope to show — in a mature fashion — just how absurd they are.”
Robert Downey Jr continued:
“The language was saying, ‘Hey, this is the reason that we’re doing these things that, in a vacuum, you could pick apart and say are wrong and bad.’ There used to be an understanding with an audience, and I’m not saying that the audience is no longer understanding — I’m saying that things have gotten very muddied. The spirit that [Ben] Stiller directed and cast and shot ‘Tropic Thunder’ in was, essentially, as a railing against all of these tropes that are not right and [that] had been perpetuated for too long.”
According to Variety, Robert Downey Jr’s mom was against his casting, telling him:
“Bobby, I’m telling ya, I have a bad feeling about this.”
The actor also had misgivings about his role and the potential backlash, but he still decided to go ahead with it.
“I get to hold up to nature the insane self-involved hypocrisy of artists and what they think they’re allowed to do on occasion.”
“[Ben Stiller] knew exactly what the vision for this was, he executed it, it was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie… And 90% of my Black friends were like, ‘Dude, that was great.’ I can’t disagree with [the other 10%], but I know where my heart lies. I think that it’s never an excuse to do something that’s out of place and out of its time, but to me it blasted the cap on [the issue]. I think having a moral psychology is job one. Sometimes, you just gotta go, ‘Yeah I effed up.’ In my defense, ‘Tropic Thunder’ is about how wrong [Blackface] is, so I take exception.”
