Robert Downey Jr. has declared it is “absolute horses***” to brand online influencers the “stars of the future” and expressed his hope young people seek alternative careers.
Robert Downey Jr. has declared it is “absolute horses***” to brand online influencers the “stars of the future”.
The Iron Man actor urged young people to turn away from the idea of wanting to make a career from sharing their lives on social media as he expressed a believe that the “challenge for individuation” is being upped in the modern world.
Speaking on the Conversations for our Daughters podcast, Downey – who has over 58.1 million followers on Instagram – 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.
“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-aggrandising kind of influencer-type thing.
“When 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 horses***.”
The 61-year-old actor – who has son Indio, 32, with first wife Deborah Falconer, and Exton, 14, and Avri, 11, with spouse Susan Downey – compared online influencers to Evangelical preachers.
He said: “[My 14-year-old 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.”
However, Downey insisted he doesn’t “really have a judgement” on the popularity of social media stars and praised the ones he has met as being “cool people”.
He added: “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.”
Despite his own vast following, the Sherlock Holmes actor tries “not to get too deep down the rabbit hole” and create content just for likes because he doesn’t “wish to be consumed.”
He said: “I know, like people say, ‘Robert, they just love it when you’re just kind of like seeming off the cuff, and they’re getting a glimpse into your life.’ And I go, ‘But yeah, but I’d be manufacturing that aspect for them, so it’s BS
“But I remember Jon Favreau, when we brought the teaser for ‘Iron Man’ to Comic Con, he was tweeting on stage and I saw the audience… This is the new hue where the audience is going to feel like they’re on the steering committee of this thing. Ok, so that’s the new landscape.”
Robert Downey Jr: Influencers are not the stars of the future
