The longest-running animated television series in the U.S., The Simpsons, is popular for its celebrity cameos. From The Devil Wears Prada star Meryl Streep to the television host Conan O’Brien, celebrities have come and gone on the 34 seasons of The Simpsons. Apart from the eerily accurate predictions, the show is also known for subtly dissing many celebrities.
However, the first episode of season eleven which aired in 1999, revolving around actor Mel Gibson, might have taken things a little too far with a short appearance of Robert Downey Jr. Taking a dig at his unfortunate problems with the law might have been a bit distasteful if you look back in time.
Also Read: MCU Theory: Robert Downey Jr Could Return to MCU as a Skrull Impostor in Secret Invasion
The Simpsons Take a Dig at Robert Downey Jr.
The 1999 episode titled Beyond Blunderdome, showed Homer Simpson running around town with Braveheart actor, Mel Gibson, fixing the ending of his movie. During the tour of a movie set, Marge Simpson pointed out Robert Downey Jr. filming a police shootout scene, where the actor was seen firing at the police from a window. However, Bart Simpson then points out that he couldn’t see any cameras, after which the scene cuts abruptly. This was a reference to the actor’s run-in with the law in the 1990s, during which he battled drug addiction.
This wasn’t only the time The Simpsons shamed the Sherlock Holmes actor in one of their episodes. In the 1997 episode, The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, the lead actor of the Betty Ford Clinic musical resembles Robert Downey Jr. quite a bit. He even wore a similar outfit Downey Jr. wore in his 1987 movie Less Than Zero. The musical showed the lead actor checking into a hospital due to his problems with drug and alcohol abuse.
Robert Downey Jr. was quite the punching bag for The Simpsons during the low point of his life. While some may find it funny, it could be argued that these instances were pretty offensive.
Robert Downey Jr. Bounces Back
Robert Downey Jr. faced an unfortunate patch in his life where he was sentenced to three years in jail for drug possession, was arrested 6 times in the 1990s, and had a drug problem so bad he passed out in the bed of a neighbor’s kid in a state of intoxication.
While The Simpsons didn’t cut the actor any slack during the rough patch, he bounced back thanks to his role as Iron Man in 2008, almost exactly ten years after the Beyond Blunderdome episode aired. The actor soon made history, becoming one of the most adored actors in Hollywood, not to mention one of the richest. Robert Downey Jr.’s incredible turnaround is a hope for many struggling with drug addiction.
Source: Youtube
