Robert Downey Jr. Brutally Rips Modern Celebrity Culture as 'Self-Aggrandizing,' Influencers Become Stars 'Without Doing Much'

Robert Downey Jr. didn't bite his tongue while criticizing modern celebrity culture, calling it "absolute horse---" that influencers may be the future of the industry.

"Nowadays, people can create celebrity without ever doing much besides rolling a phone on themselves," Downey Jr., 61, said during an appearance on the "Conversations for Our Daughters" podcast. "And 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."

The Iron Man lead argued that real stars will still be defined by their contributions to the world, urging younger generations to move beyond simple content creation.

"Hopefully the grosser part of the youth of – let's just call it America for locality’s sake – you know, 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,'" the Avengers actor explained.

Downey Jr. admitted when he hears that influencers are the "stars of the future," he thinks, "I don't know what world you're living into, but I think that that is absolute horse---."

The movie star revealed a personal situation in which his 14-year-old son, Exton, "got caught up" in influencing, joking, "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," he elaborated during the interview. "So there's something about the influencers today are almost like the evangelical hucksters of the information age. At the same token, 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."

As for Downey Jr.'s personal relationship with social media, he keeps his distance to avoid being consumed by it.

"I know like 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,'" he admitted. "And I go, 'But yeah, but I'd be manufacturing that aspect for them.' So it's — it's B-."