Robert Downey Jr. says his Tropic Thunder role "blasted the cap on the issue" of blackface

Now that Robert Downey Jr. has been released from the publicity-friendly constraints of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the former Iron Man is free to say and do whatever he wants—like star in a $175 million CGI nightmare with talking animals which culminates in his befriending a dragon by removing an object from its rectum. Or, as is the case in his recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, revisiting the subject of his donning blackface for the 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder. Ben Stiller’s Hollywood satire starred Downey Jr. as an Australian method actor named Kirk Lazarus, who undergoes a cosmetic procedure to darken his skin so he can portray a Black soldier in a war film. According to Indiewire, Downey Jr. reflected on the controversial choice while speaking with Rogan during a promotional tour for another questionable project—Dolittle:
My mother was horrified. ‘Bobby, I’m telling ya, I have a bad feeling about this.’ I was like, ‘Yeah me too, mom.’ When Ben called and said, ‘Hey I’m doing this thing’ – you know I think Sean Penn had passed on it or something. Possibly wisely. And I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that and I’ll do that after Iron Man.’ Then I started thinking, ‘This is a terrible idea, wait a minute.’ Then I thought, ‘Well hold on dude, get real here, where is your heart?’ My heart is…I get to be Black for a summer in my mind, so there’s something in it for me. The other thing is, I get to hold up to nature the insane self-involved hypocrisy of artists and what they think they’re allowed to do on occasion, just my opinion.