Elon Musk has been slammed for utilizing the R-word to mock Hollywood actor Ben Stiller.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the tech tycoon, 53, was responding to claims made by Stiller concerning his 2008 film Tropic Thunder, wherein he declared the comedy couldn’t be made within the current day.
The film, a comedy following a gaggle of actors making a big-budget Vietnam warfare movie, sparked controversy because of Robert Downey Jr’s character “blacking up” and Stiller taking part in a mentally challenged ‘farm boy’ known as Easy Jack.
Musk shared a information submit on X containing an article about Stiller’s feedback that includes the headline “Ben Stiller says woke America killed ‘edgier’ comedy”, alongside a caption — borrowed from the film — “Rattling, he went full r—-d.”
Critics rapidly denounced Musk’s use of the slur, calling it ableist and inappropriate, no matter its cinematic origins.
Many questioned Musk’s resolution to make use of such language on a platform he owns, highlighting its potential to amplify dangerous rhetoric.
Nevertheless, others defended him, arguing the quote was a callback to the movie’s satirical intent.
Stiller, 58, opened up about Tropic Thunder whereas expressing his doubts over “edgier comedy” being accepted in modern-day Hollywood.
He mentioned: “I doubt it. Clearly, on this atmosphere, edgier comedy is simply tougher to do. Undoubtedly not on the scale we made it at, too, by way of the economics of the enterprise.
“I feel even on the time we had been lucky to get it made, and I credit score that, truly, to Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks.
“He learn it and was like, ‘Alright, let’s make this factor.’ It is a very inside film when you concentrate on it.”
The Dodgeball star pointed to Downey Jr’s character Kirk Lazarus, an Australian technique actor and five-time Academy Award winner, who obtained himself a controversial “pigmentation alteration” surgical procedure so he might play a black soldier within the movie.
He mentioned: “However yeah, the concept of Robert taking part in that character who’s taking part in an African American character, I imply, extremely dicey.
“Even on the time, in fact, it was dicey too. The one purpose we tried it was I felt just like the joke was very clear by way of who that joke was on — actors attempting to do something to win awards.
“However now, on this atmosphere, I do not even know if I’d have ventured to do it, to inform you the reality. I am being trustworthy.”
Final yr, Stiller responded to a fan on X who requested the actor to “cease apologising for doing this film”.
The actor wrote: “I make no apologies for Tropic Thunder. Don’t know who advised you that.
“It’s at all times been a controversial film since once we opened. Happy with it and the work that everybody did on it.”
Downey Jr’s portrayal of the character has obtained some criticism through the years, however the actor, who received a greatest supporting actor Oscar nomination for the position, has defended the usage of blackface within the movie earlier than.
He mentioned: “There was an understanding with an viewers, and I’m not saying that the viewers is now not understanding – I am saying that issues have gotten very muddied.
“The spirit that Stiller directed and solid and shot Tropic Thunder in was, primarily, as a railing towards all of those tropes that aren’t proper and (that) had been perpetuated for too lengthy.”