Teens Discovering "Tropic Thunder" Is Everyone's Favorite Quarantine Activity

In 2009, Tropic Thunder, particularly Robert Downey Jr's performance, spurred a backlash due to its use of blackface. In the film, he plays an awards-hungry actor, willing to go to "great lengths" for his performance, no matter how disgusting those lengths may be. This says nothing about the protests against its depictions of people with mental disabilities in the form of "Simple Jack."

Of course, once people saw the film, it became clear that this bit of other-wise unacceptable makeup satirized white actors and filmmakers who use other cultures, races and disabilities to garner favor from critics, win awards and serve their own egos. It's a significant plot point in the film: These types of performances are not ok. And yet, Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking in 2014's The Theory of Everything and received a nomination for his role as trans artist Lili Elbe in the 2015's The Danish Girl. We've learned so little since Tropic Thunder's release.

Still, every few months, youngsters on social media who find images Downy Jr's Oscar-nominated performance (you read that correctly) complain about a lack of cancelation. Of course, devoid of context, the photos aren't flattering, but I digress.

The frequent "rediscovering" of his performances has given rise to a new activity on the site: People watching the attempted-cancelation of Downey Jr over a movie that came out over a decade ago and was already very much a point of controversy. If anything, they should cancel him for his accent Dolittle, but I guess people would have to remember that that film exists first.