Robert Downey Jr. Is Right About Influencers

It’s such a relief to have a celebrity with common sense who isn’t afraid to speak up. Robert Downey Jr. has been around Hollywood for quite some time, so when he talks seriously about the future of the industry and how that looks with influencers, you should listen. Though it should come as no surprise given his scathing comments on AI.

Recently, he sat down for an interview on the Conversations for our Daughters podcast, where he compared modern-day influencers with creatives who actually “want to build something” meaningful.

“It was also a time when in the late ’70s, early ’80s, dangerous though it was, there was this sense that the competition wasn’t so stiff that you shouldn’t even bother trying,” Downey Jr. explained. “Whereas nowadays, people can create a 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.”

Continuing, Downey Jr. said, “Hopefully the grosser 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. 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 horsesh-t.'”

Influencers should not trump somebody with talent

Downey Jr. goes on to speak at length about the perils of online fame and the behavior it encourages. “My now 13-year-old son, he 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?'” he said. “And really, it becomes a religion.”

Calling influencers “Evangelical hucksters of the information age,” you have to admit that he has a point. Entire online platforms are built off of scams. We see them pushing ads for products that probably don’t work. We know they’re making an exorbitant amount of money for doing practically nothing, and yet, still, we find ourselves attracted to them. Like the lady in the church pew who is so moved by the preacher’s words she has to donate her last twenty to the offering basket, we shell out money we don’t have to these people who have is convinced we need this thing or that item.

Though Robert Downey Jr. boasts 58 million followers on Instagram, you aren’t going to find him on there pushing products or interacting with fans. “I’d be manufacturing that aspect for them, so it’s B.S.,” he said about the possibility of being more active on the platform.

The world is much more vast than the online platforms available to us. Limiting yourself to exposure only through Instagram or TikTok drastically reduces a broader range of thinking. Life isn’t about online consumption, and it was never meant to be that way. Will the stars of the future be influencers? Only if we let this trend continue.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]