Now before you start attacking Robert Downey Jr.'s comments and DMs, read this FULL article first!
The actor recently got very candid on The Joe Rogan Experience as he explained his mindset for his choice of movie roles. While he's racked up a wide variety of experience during his half-a-century long career, it's his position in 2008's Tropic Thunder that's resurfacing to grab our attention.
It was a provoking decision for him to take on the role of "Kirk Lazarus" in the comedic flick after Sean Penn passed on the offer. The movie was, in basic terms, a movie about making a movie. "Kirk" was a white method actor who did blackface for the fictitious film. You might remember his notorious line, "I'm a dude playing a dude, disguised as another dude!"
It's no surprise that he had some hesitation after thinking about it for some time, but once he got an understanding of the movie's true message it was clear he made the right choice.
"I thought, 'Well hold on, dude. Get real here. Where's your heart?' And my heart is: a. 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 are allowed to do on occasion."
Though Downey's intentions were purely to shine light on how wrong it is that Hollywood figures rationalize such an insulting practice, not everyone took it as such. He admitted that "90% of his black friends" thought he killed it. While the other 10% percent probably would've killed him if they weren't friends. The Sherlock Holmes star went to explain:
“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.”
So does Robert get a pass? Or is he cancelled?