Despite the continued controversy surrounding Tropic Thunder, co-writer Justin Theroux has made it clear that he is standing behind the movie.
The satirical action comedy film - which was released in 2008 and directed by Ben Stiller - tells the story of a group of actors that were shooting a big-budget war movie and were forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.
Robert Downey Jr played a character named Kirk Lazarus, a man that saw him physically turn himself from a white man to a Black man - a more common name for the process is "blackface".
For almost two decades, the flick was slammed by viewers for several reasons such as its depiction of disabled people and minority groups.
Many people have been taking to their social media to defend the movie and criticize others for trying to "cancel" it, by saying that it stood the test of time. Even Ben Stiller - who played Tugg Speedman in the flick - shared his views on the backlash and said that he is still "proud" of the comedy movie.
On Twitter, a user named Benny S shared a screenshot of an earlier tweet that claimed the 57-year-old star had been forced to apologize for Tropic Thunder and that "liberals are trying to cancel" the movie.
The Night at the Museum actor responded to the fan by writing: "I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who told you that. It’s always been a controversial movie since when we opened. Proud of it and the work everyone did on it."
Now, co-writer Theroux has addressed the film's criticism in an interview with Newsweek and expressed that he hates "to think we're entering a zone where you can't make anything".
When asked if the film could be created now, the co-writer said: "It might not look the same, and it might not have the same jokes, but I think a film like that could be made today."
Theroux continued: "I'm a big believer in free speech. If you watch it again, there's nothing that is that 'hard charging' about it. You know, it doesn't seem that controversial to me because of who the jokes are aimed at. You know what I mean? It's aimed at a bunch of dumb actors. That remains funny to me."
Back in 2020, the 57-year-old Iron Man opened up about the backlash on the film during an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
"My mother was horrified," Downey said, recalling his initial feelings about the position. "'Bobby, I’m telling ya, I have a bad feeling about this.' I was like, 'Yeah me too, mom.'"
He continued: "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," he added.
The Marvel star went on to claim that "90 percent of [his] Black friends" referred to the movie as "great," stating: "[Ben Stiller] knew exactly what the vision for this was, he executed it, it was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie."
"I can’t disagree with [the other 10 percent], but I know where my heart lies. I think that it’s never an excuse to do something that’s out of place and out of its time, but to me, it blasted the cap on [the issue]. I think having a moral psychology is job one," he continued.
He then added: "Sometimes, you just gotta go, 'Yeah I effed up'", but allegedly in his defense "Tropic Thunder is about how wrong [blackface] is, so I take exception."
