'A masterclass': Internet backs Robert Downey Jr as he slams 'clickbait grievance' over ‘Tropic Thunder’

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Robert Downey Jr has received support online after he came out in support of his character in ‘Tropic Thunder’ in which he played an egotistical Australian performer who did “pigmentation alteration” surgery to get Black skin.

Though he has received backlash lately for his character, the 58-year-old actor believes it is misdirected, Variety reported.

Robert Downey Jr compared ‘Tropic Thunder’ with ‘All in the Family’

He recently came on Rob Lowe’s ‘Literally!’ podcast, where he mentioned Norman Lear’s TV series ‘All in the Family’ to make his point.

The 1971 sitcom raised many eyebrows for talking about topics, like racism, homosexuality, antisemitism, infidelity, women's liberation, rape, abortion, and miscarriages.

Downey Jr shared, “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.”

The disclaimer reportedly was “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 says, 'Things have gotten very muddied'

But the ‘Oppenheimer’ star asserted, “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.”

He further mentioned, “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.”

Downey Jr then addressed ‘Tropic Thunder’, directed by Ben Stiller, and added, “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.”

‘I was watching RDJ doing the finest acting ever’

A lot of people on Reddit supported Downey Jr as one commented, “I thought it was a masterclass. Near the end when he dissolves the black character and becomes a blue-eyed Australian. Thick accent and all. I wasn’t watching the ending anymore I was watching RDJ doing the finest acting ever.”

Another user wrote, “Every day I marvel at the number of people who genuinely don’t seem to understand satire— or even sarcasm.”

The third user said, “It was really about making fun of both method actors and Hollywood. Method actors who go to insane lengths for a role. Like instead of a white actor, using some type of body paint to achieve the look of a black man, he gets his skin pigmented a darker color. And Hollywood, who famously casts major stars in roles not of their race over lesser-known stars of that race.”

The fourth one added, “People can’t tell the difference. But even legitimate satire faces unfair criticism for reasons people invent because modern American ‘cultural’ discourse isn’t grounded in any kind of movement or social theory or reason. It’s just reactionary. What the ‘rules’ are varies from person to person. The arts as a whole are in dire straits.”