Marvel veteran Robert Downey Jr. recently shared his thoughts on the idea of social media influencers becoming the “stars of the future” during an appearance on the Conversations for Our Daughters podcast. The Hollywood actor said he disagreed with the growing belief that influencers would become the next generation of major stars.
During his recent appearance on the Conversations for our Daughters podcast, Robert Downey Jr. shared his views on influencers becoming the “stars of the future.”
The Iron Man actor noted that “nowadays people can create celebrity without ever doing much besides rolling a phone on themselves.” He added, “I don’t look at that as a negative thing. I just look at it as more like the challenge for individuation is being upped.”
“Hopefully the [larger] part of the youth of – let’s just call it America for locality’s sake – is gonna say, ‘Yeah, but that’s not my thing. I want to go do something, I’m going to make something, I want to build something, I want to educate myself and I want to have more inputs, so whatever my output is, it isn’t just a self-aggrandizing kind of influencer-type thing,’” he continued.
The Oscar-winning actor added, “When I hear people talk about, ‘Oh, the stars of the future are going to be influencers,’ I go, ‘I don’t know what world you’re living in, but I think that that is absolute horseshit.’”
The actor also shared an example involving his son. He added, “So there’s something about the influencers today that are almost like the Evangelical hucksters of the information age. At the same token, it’s different because we’re playing in this new territory, and so it’s a little bit of a frontier and I don’t really have a judgment on it.”
Despite his large social media following, Downey said he tries not to go too far into the “rabbit hole.” He added, “I don’t wish to be consumed.”
