Back in 2008, the much-loved Robert Downey Jr donned “blackface” for his performance as Kirk Lazarus in satirical comedy Tropic Thunder.
Anyone with half a brain who has seen the film knows that the entire point of his role was to make fun of white people who think they can play every/any role. In fact the whole film was about highlighting and mocking all the things wrong with Hollywood – product placement, substance abuse, crazy producers, weird method actors and things like blackface.
Well, apparently that’s not good enough for some people who still demand an apology from director Ben Stiller to this day. This week, Stiller categorically stated that the apology will never happen, by hitting back at a Tweet that claimed he had apologised for it.
I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.
I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it. 🙏✊😊
— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) February 21, 2023
The Tweeter than shared a Tweet from 2018 in which Stiller claimed to have apologised for Tropic Thunder the year it came out, so I guess he’s changed his tune since then?
I’m guessing people saw this…. and took it, misconstrued it and ran with it. That movie is a classic to this day. I stand with you bro. 💯 https://t.co/WJQSDTLlZd
— Benny S. (@BennySings) February 22, 2023
Either way, fair play to him for standing up for the movie all these years later. Previously, woke teenagers had gone after Robert Downey Jr for his role as Kirk Lazarus. He’s defended himself plenty of times, including on Joe Rogan’s podcast where he said the following:
My heart is… I get to be black for a summer in my mind, so there’s something in it for me. The other thing is, 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… 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].
Full discussion here:
For an awesome clip of RDJ surprising a young kid with a missing limb with a bionic arm, click HERE.
