Robert Downey Jr. Says That “90 Percent of His Black Friends” Loved ‘Tropic Thunder’

Tropic Thunder doesn’t exactly stand up to the harsh light of 2020 (or 2008, for that matter), but star Robert Downey Jr. is still defending the controversial comedy. Last week, the Dolittle star appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience to discuss his new film, but things invariably turned to the 2008 comedy, which stars Downey Jr. as an Australian method actor who undergoes “pigmentation alteration” to play a black character. Despite the Tropic Thunder blackface controversy, the actor stood by his decision to darken his skin, telling Rogan, “It was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie, and 90 percent of my black friends are like, ‘Dude, that was great.'”

When asked about his experience on Tropic Thunder, Downey confirmed that he wasn’t the first star asked to play Kirk Lazarus. “I think Sean Penn had passed on it or something like that — possibly wisely,” said Downey Jr. “And I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that after Iron Man.’ And then I started thinking, ‘This is a terrible idea, wait a minute.'” After some back and forth, the actor decided to listen to his heart. “My heart is, a) I get to be black for a summer in my mind, so there’s something in it for me,” he told Rogan. “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 — just my opinion.”

Downey Jr. praised director Ben Stiller, calling him “a masterful artist and director.” He went on to compare Stiller to David Lean, Charlie Chaplin, and Francis Ford Coppola. “He knew exactly what the vision for this was. He executed it,” said Downey Jr. “It was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie, and 90 percent of my black friends are like, ‘Dude, that was great.'”

When Rogan asked about “the other 10 percent,” Downey Jr. attempted to play down his remark. “You know, I can’t disagree with them — but I know where my heart was,” he replied. “And I think that it’s never an excuse to do something that is out of place and not of its time, but to me it was just putting a blasting cap on — and by the way, I think White Chicks came out pretty soon after that, and I was like, ‘I love that! That was great!’ So, you know.”

Apart from being totally bizarre, Downey Jr.’s justification for the film’s blackface is incorrect: White Chicks came out in 2004, four years before Tropic Thunder.

Later in the interview, the Marvel alum attempted to talk through the comedy’s legacy. “It’s an interesting and necessary meditation on, ‘Where is the pendulum?Why is the pendulum right?'” he told Rogan. “Where is the pendulum maybe cutting a little into what could be perceived as heart in the right place openness of its time? But again, I mean, you know, there’s a morality clause here on this planet. And it’s a big price to pay, and I think having a moral psychology is job one. So sometimes you’ve just gotta go, ‘Yeah, I effed up.’ Again, not in my defense, but Tropic Thunder was about how wrong that is. So I take exception.”

Watch Robert Downey Jr.’s entire interview with Joe Rogan above. The Tropic Thunder discussion begins at the 28:36 mark.

Where to stream Tropic Thunder