Dwayne Johnson Proud to Have ‘The Guts to Fail,’ Amid DC Reports

Following reports of tension between Dwayne Johnson and Warner Bros. Discovery popping up recently, the actor took to social media to say that he’s proud to have had the guts to try and fail.

In a video posted to Twitter, Johnson credited his friend Inky Johnson with a quote that the actor has lived by, which is that you should always have “the guts to fail” rather than a desire to just be famous.

“A thought I wanted to share with you guys,” Johnson said. “There’s a good friend of mine named Inky Johnson, you guys should follow him. He’s always got great perspective, grounding perspective. He keeps it raw. He keeps it real. He said something that was really profound that I feel ties into this whole thing: … he talked about having the guts to fail. And the reason why I bring that back around to you guys is having the guts to fail compared to having the desire to be famous, having the desire to succeed.”

Johnson didn’t specifically mention the tension between himself and Warner Bros., or Black Adam‘s performance, but did say that he continues to follow his guts, and sometimes that leads to him getting his “ass kicked” on some stuff.

“But I have found in life, that the desire to become famous, the desire to succeed will never be as powerful as having the guts to fail,” said Johnson. “And I love that, because I look back at my own life, and around every corner, and still today– Look, I’m a Tyrannosaurus Rex, I’m 58,000 years old, but I still have that. And that’s my lead foot. I’m just having the guts to fail, around every corner. And that leads my decisions. That allows me to take big swings. Get my ass kicked on some of them. Fail at some of them. But then, also succeed at some of them. So, I will always take guts over desire. Have a great week and let’s get after it. This is our year. 2023. Guts over desire.”

Johnson’s comments come following a report that alleges the relationship between Johnson and Warner Bros. has worn thin. The report specifically noted that Johnson tried to pitch his own future of the DC Universe prior to James Gunn and Peter Safran’s promotion to co-CEOs of DC Studios, a move that reportedly didn’t go over well.