Few people know fame like Robert Downey Jr. The Oscar-winning actor has done everything from critical darlings like Oppenheimer to pop culture juggernauts like The Avengers.
While Downey took a more traditional path to celebrity, many up-and-coming stars got their starts on social media. Two of this year’s Grammy nominees for Best New Artist, Addison Rae and Alex Warren, were known for their TikToks before they were known for their music. Several of the biggest new names in filmmaking, including directors Danny and Michael Philippou of Talk to Me and Kane Parsons of the upcoming Backrooms, went viral on YouTube before breaking into Hollywood.
But according to Downey, it’s “absolute horseshit” to assume that influencers will be “the stars of the future.”
In a recent appearance on the podcast Conversations for our Daughters, Downey sounded off on influencer culture, saying that while fame has become more accessible thanks to social media, that doesn’t mean influencers will usurp true celebrity status.
“Nowadays, people can create celebrity without ever doing much besides rolling a phone on themselves,” Downey said. “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.”
“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,’” he added.
Gen Z’s influencer aspirations
Downey may not be wowed by influencers’ collective cult of personality, but younger generations tend to disagree. In a 2023 survey, 57% of Gen Zers said they want to be influencers.
Downey shared that he saw his own 14-year-old son get “caught up in this whole influencer thing.”
“Next thing you know, it’s like, ‘Hey, if you like the way I’m playing this video game, do you wanna send me a donation?’ And really, it becomes a religion,” Downey said. “The influencers today are almost like the Evangelical hucksters of the information age.”
Still, Downey said he hopes the majority of young people will pursue passions outside of social media.
“Hopefully [young people are] 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 said.
For all his criticisms, Downey added that he has little issue with influencers themselves.
“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,” he said. “I also know when I am promoting a film now I’ve gotten to know a few of these influencers, and I find them—many of them—grounded, interesting, accomplished, cool people.”
Downey’s social media presence
Though he’s an actor first and foremost, Downey could reasonably be called an influencer himself: On Instagram, he sports 57.6 million followers and he regularly posts on the platform. But Downey said he tries to be as authentic as possible on social media—which for him means keeping his online presence to a surface level.
“People say, ‘Robert, they just love it when you’re just kind of like seeming off the cuff, and they’re getting a glimpse into your life.’ And I go, ‘Yeah, but I’d be manufacturing that aspect for them, so it’s B.S.,” Downey said.
“I try not to get too deep down any rabbit hole,” he added. “I don’t wish to be consumed. I am, at essence, still a consumer that is also a contributor.”