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Robert De Niro has accused organizers of a film awards show of editing his speech without permission, removing remarks critical of former President Donald Trump and other political comments.
De Niro was presenting the Historical Icon and Creator Tribute Award at the Gotham Independent Film Awards on Monday when he paused mid-speech and appeared confused as he read off the teleprompter.
De Niro continued his speech and then said: “I just want to say one thing. The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out, I didn’t know anything about it. And I want to read it.”
The 80-year-old star, who was presenting an award for the film in which he stars, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” then picked up his phone and began reading from what appeared to be the original, unedited script.
“History is no longer history,” De Niro said. “Truth is not truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and fueled by conspiracy theories and ugliness.” The actor pointed to changes to Florida’s black history curriculum that require students to be taught that enslaved people “developed skills that ” can be used for their personal gain,” adding that “the entertainment industry is not immune to this simmering disease.”
Before De Niro’s F-bomb, there were “punk,” “dog,” “pig” and other apt words for Trump
“Lying has become another tool in the charlatan’s arsenal,” he added. “The former president lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office, and he is keeping up the pace in his current campaign of retaliation,” he said. “But despite all his lies, he can’t hide his soul.”
According to The Washington Post’s Fact Checker team, Trump has told more than 30,500 falsehoods during his presidency – an average of about 21 false claims per day.
“He attacks the weak, destroys nature’s gifts and shows disrespect by, for example, using Pocahontas as a curse word,” De Niro said, pointing out that Trump’s regular use of the Indian chief’s daughter was a slight to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D- Mass.), whose family tree has some Native American ancestors.
“This is where I came in and I saw that they worked all of this,” De Niro told the crowd as some cheered and clapped.
Trump’s use of “Pocahontas” as a curse word is part of her sad, 400-year history as a pawn
De Niro, who starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” told viewers that he was supposed to honor Apple, the film’s producer, but after some of his words “didn’t feel like thanking them.” . The speech was reportedly shortened.
“So I’ll say these things, but to Apple and thank them and all that, Gotham, blah blah blah, Apple, but, who – I don’t feel like thanking them at all for what they’ve done. How dare they actually do that,” he said.
Apple and the Gotham Independent Film Awards did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.
De Niro has long been a critic of Trump and has denigrated him on several occasions, including in a heated tirade at the 2018 Tony Awards and then at a ceremony in Toronto in which he apologized to Canadians for my president’s “idiotic behavior.” .
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During Trump’s presidency, De Niro referred to him as the “baby in chief” and amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, De Niro branded Trump a “lunatic” who “didn’t care how many people die from the virus.”
Trump, for his part, responded to De Niro’s previous criticism by calling him a “very low IQ person” on appeared elitist or argued that his comments could only serve to strengthen Trump’s base.
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