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Robert Downey Jr. is one of the most successful actors in Hollywood history. Films he has appeared in have earned somewhere between $14-16 billion worldwide at the box office, due in large part to his role as Tony Stark / Ironman in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He currently ranks as the 4th highest-grossing actor of all time, and has a hefty 57.6 million followers on Instagram to boot.
Despite being one of the most-followed celebrities on earth, Robert Downey Jr. does not see himself as an influencer. Nor does he think influencers are the ‘stars of the future’ many paint them out to be.
During a recent interview with Conversations for our Daughters, Robert Downey Jr. gave his thoughts on influencers and called the notion that they’re ‘stars of the future’ total “horse s—.” It was far from being entirely negative though. RDJ seems to have put some considerable thought into this.
What Does Robert Downey Jr. Think About Influencers?
During the interview, RDJ said “nowadays people can create celebrity without ever doing much besides rolling a phone on themselves. I don’t look at that as a negative thing. I just look at it as more like the challenge for individuation is being upped.”
Fair, and he covered his bases there by saying he doesn’t see it as negative.
Robert Downey Jr. added “Hopefully, the (larger) part of the youth of, let’s just call it America for locality’s sake, is gonna say, ‘yeah, but that’s not my thing. I want to go do something. I’m going to make something. I want to build something. I want to educate myself and I want to have more inputs. So whatever my output is, it isn’t just a self-aggrandizing kind of influencer-type thing.”
The quote that seems to have resonated the most with netizens, the one mentioned above, is when he said “shen I hear people talk about, ‘oh, the stars of the future are going to be influencers,’ I go, ‘I don’t know what world you’re living in, but I think that that is absolute horse s—.'”
Thus far he has been fairly even keeled toward influencers in his take but then he discussed how his son briefly dabbled into the influencer game. That’s when Robert Downey Jr. compared them to con men.
He went on to say “(my son) kinda got caught up in this whole influencer thing, and next thing you know, it’s like, ‘hey, if you like the way I’m playing this video game, do you wanna send me a donation?’ And really, it becomes a religion. So there’s something about the influencers today that are almost like the evangelical hucksters of the Information Age. At the same token, it’s different because we’re playing in this new territory and so it’s a little bit of a frontier and I don’t really have a judgment on it. I also know when I am promoting a film now I’ve gotten to know a few of these influencers, and I find many of them grounded, accomplished, cool people.”
Calling streamers in particular “Evangelical hucksters of the Information Age” while tempering that with saying he has met many at press junkets who are “cool people” is an interesting way to cover his bases here.
Because at the end of the day, Robert Downey Jr. does need the most prominent voices in media to keep bolstering his work. And many of the most prominent voices in media these days are influencers. He knows that he cannot bite the hand that feeds him.
While many of the posts on Robert Downey Jr.’s Instagram page are red carpet photos from Getty or wherever, he also posts many candid shots as well. I find it fascinating to see him toeing both sides of the line, benefiting from all of the perks of Hollywood royalty, the old guard and A-list elite, and posting like an influencer to keep up with the Joneses. It’s not a knock on him at all and he seems entirely self aware about his role in all of this.
Check out the full interview here:
What do you think, are influencers the ‘stars of the future’ or absolutely not like Robert Downey Jr. said? Let us know what you think in the Facebook comments or email me anytime at cass@brobible.com.