Robert Downey Jr. says he’s not fazed by Jimmy Kimmel’s controversial Oscars joke about him.
“I don’t care,” he told Esquire in an interview published Monday. “I love Jimmy Kimmel. I think he’s a national treasure.”
The actor, who won an Oscar for his supporting role in Oppenheimer, was the butt of a string of jokes from Kimmel during the comedian’s opening monologue at this year’s Academy Awards.
“This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career —well, one of the highest points,” Kimmel cracked, seemingly in reference to Downey’s history of drug addiction.
In the audience, Downey tapped his nose in response.
“Was that too on the nose, or is that a drug motion you made?” Kimmel added.
Downey had a years-long struggle with addiction before he got sober in 2003.
The joke didn’t sit right with some viewers who suggested the Iron Man star looked uncomfortable during the exchange.
In his acceptance speech later that night, the actor thanked his wife, producer Susan Downey, telling her, “You loved me back to life.” They met in 2003 and have been married since 2005.
“Everybody loves the simple narrative of somehow I came in and turned his life around and blah, blah, blah,” Susan Downey told Esquire.
“But I can tell you that I would never be who I am without him in my life. His trajectory is just the easier one to chart because he’s had to live his ups and downs in public.”