Robert Downey Jr. has hit out at social media influencers, rejecting the idea that content creators can become “the stars of the future.”
During an appearance on the latest episode of the Conversations for Our Daughters podcast, the Avengers star criticized influencer culture.
“In the late ’70s, early ’80s, even though it was dangerous, there was an understanding that the competition wasn’t so stiff that you shouldn’t even bother trying,” Robert said. “Whereas these days, people can become celebrities without doing anything more than just rotating the phone.”
The 61-year-old actor added, “I don’t see it as a negative thing. I just see it as increasing the challenge to individualization,” Robert said.
“Hopefully a (large) portion of the youth — let’s call it America for locality’s sake — is going to say, ‘Yeah, but that’s not my thing. I want to do something, I want to create something, I want to create something, I want to educate myself and I want more input, so whatever my output is, it’s not just a self-aggrandizing influencer type of thing,'” Robert continued.
“When I hear people talking about, ‘Oh, the stars of the future are going to be influencers,’ I say, ‘I don’t know what world you’re living in, but I think that’s absolutely bullshit,'” said the Oscar-winning actor, who has 58.1 million followers on Instagram.
