Featured Image Credit: PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Entertainment Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Robert Downey Jr
Katherine Sidnell
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Robert Downey Jr
Though the film was released nearly two decades ago, Tropic Thunder is still causing controversy with lead actor Ben Stiller saying he makes ‘no apologies’ for it.
Upon it’s release in 2008, the movie was boycotted by some for its portrayal of disabled people and minority groups with Marvel’s Robert Downey Jr donning blackface for the film.
However, Stiller has said he’s still ‘proud’ of the comedy movie.
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It was after a fan told him to ‘stop apologising’ for the 2008 film, saying that it was funnier because of modern cancel culture.
Tagging the actor, they wrote: “Please stop apologizing for doing this movie. It was and still is funny AF. Even funnier now with cancel culture the way it is. It's a MOVIE. Ya'll can just get over it.
"I was DYING laughing when I first saw it back in the day and so was everyone else."
Alongside the post was a screenshot of an earlier tweet, claiming the Meet The Parents star had been forced to apologise for Tropic Thunder.
Responding to the fan, Stiller wrote: “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.”
It’s not the first time he has address the controversy surround the film, which shows a fictional group of actors become involved in jungle warfare and parodies of Apocalypse Now.
Back in 2018, Olympic athlete Shaun White dressed up as neurodivergent character Jeff Portnoy, who had been played in Tropic Thunder by Jack Black.
It sparked an intense backlash from some of his fans, with the snowboarder eventually apologising for his actions on social media saying that he’d made a ‘wrong’ decision.
At the time, Stiller also responded to the incident after one former fan called for a fresh boycott of the film on Twitter.
He wrote: “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”.
Stiller isn't the only actor in the film whose refused to apologise for their appearance.
Actor Robert Downey Jnr shared a similar opinion in an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience.
He defended the film, stating that: "It was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie,".