Tropic Thunder has always been a controversial topic. Between the use of blackface in the movie and the depiction of someone dealing with a mental disorder, there has been a lot of debate about the issues surrounding the choices made in this film. Now, a decade later, a fan asked the film's star and director Ben Stiller to stop apologizing for the film, and he responded to set the record straight, and share his feelings about the action-comedy.
As entertaining as Tropic Thunder was to audiences, it did brew a storm of controversy with the disabled community because Ben Stiller portrayed an actor who played a mentally-challenged farm boy who can talk to animals in the film-within-a-film. Audiences also noted Robert Downey Jr.'s use of blackface in the film, and the problems with that. Twitter user Benny S., tweeted at the Meet the Parents actor to stop apologizing for making Tropic Thunder as he thought it was a hilarious movie. The actor/director responded to them by tweeting:
I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it.🙏✊😊
If Ben Stiller claims he never made any apologies for making Tropic Thunder, where was that fan getting his accusations from? It could be from a post in 2018 when another Twitter user joked about boycotting Tropic Thunder due to the cancel culture we live in. Stiller responded then with his apologies for the movie and that it was made with good intentions.
Actually Tropic Thunder was boycotted 10 years ago when it came out, and I apologized then. It was always meant to make fun of actors trying to do anything to win awards. I stand by my apology, the movie, Shaun White, And the great people and work of the @SpecialOlympics.
It’s possible that with this Twitter response being from four years ago, Ben Stiller may not even remember this social media moment. It’s been over a decade since Tropic Thunder came out, and people are still questioning whether this is a movie worth taking offense over or seeing it for the satire it was intended to be. Movies like this may always have a divided audience of those who see the humor in the situation and others who feel some humor is too offensive to be shown to a wide audience.
Along with Stiller addressing the controversial moments in the film, Robert Downey Jr. reflected on his use of blackface saying that he understood Stiller’s intentions for making jokes about actors who will go out of their way for an Oscar nomination. He also made sure to point out that the majority of his Black friends took no offense to his role, however, he understood those who did. There may be people right now who still don’t get the joke behind RDJ’s character, but others today still find humor in what Tropic Thunder set out to do.
It looks like Ben Stiller is proud of his controversial movie Tropic Thunder, and has no apologies for it, however, he does understand the debate surrounding the flick.
Be sure to check in on our 2023 movie releases to find out what the stars of Tropic Thunder are up to next.
