Tropic Thunder Was Trending After Twitter Jumped to Robert Downey Jr’s Defense

Oftentimes, something trends on Twitter because people become engaged in a heated debate. Other [...]

By Jamie Jirak

Oftentimes, something trends on Twitter because people become engaged in a heated debate. Other times, one or two people have an opinion and the entire social media site chooses to collectively disagree. That happened yesterday when Twitter user @VitoGesualdi shared a few screenshots of people upset with Robert Downey Jr.'s performance in Tropic Thunder. Back in 2008, the action-comedy became an instant hit and even earned Downey Jr. an Academy Award nomination. Of course, his role in the film could be considered controversial due to the fact that he's in blackface for most of the movie. However, most people recognize that the film was parodying method actors and that while a decision like that probably wouldn't fly in 2020, people agree that the movie holds up and that Downey Jr.'s performance remains valid. In fact, the shared tweets condemning the movie each have 0-1 likes, which is why it's hilarious that they caused Tropic Thunder to trend in such a big way last night.

"Woke teenagers discovering Tropic Thunder is my favorite tweet genre," @VitoGesualdi tweeted yesterday. It's likely this tweet was the start of the trend considering it now has over 213,000 likes on the social media site. Some of the screenshotted tweets are old, but they call for the cancelation of Robert Downey Jr., which pretty much everyone agrees is ridiculous. You can check out the tweet below:

Here are some of the best tweets to hit Twitter yesterday about Tropic Thunder and Robert Downey Jr.'s performance. (Warning: strong language ahead!)

Satire

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Did They Even Watch the Movie?

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Jamie Foxx's Take

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The Circle of Life

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This Movie Is Pretty Old, Folks

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Tom Cruise Shoutout

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Thoughtful Points

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Why Does This Keep Happening?

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"Fake Mad"

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The Real Offender

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Time Is a Flat Circle

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Boiling it Down

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