Who Censored Robert De Niro?
The “Killers of the Flower Moon” actor prepared to slam Donald Trump at the Gotham Awards on Monday, but when he took the stage he realized that the speech he was about to give was at the behest of Apple , the film’s producer, had been changed. According to a source, the company was responding to feedback from the film crew, who wanted the actor’s remarks to focus on the film.
The actor said he was not informed of the changes, which eliminates any mention of the former president. De Niro, who was on hand to present “Killers of the Flower Moon” with the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute, criticized the awards ceremony and Apple. “I don’t feel like thanking them at all for what they did,” he said. “How dare they actually do that?”
A revised version of the speech was delivered to the teleprompter less than 10 minutes before the event began, according to sources with knowledge of the show. A woman asking the teleprompter operator to upload a new speech was overheard posing as an Apple employee. At 6:54 p.m., the teleprompter company received an email from two Apple employees with the new text, which omitted explicit references to Trump. Instead, De Niro pointed out that “watching the news today” makes it clear that “we actually live in a post-truth society.” Variety reviewed a copy of this email. The Gothams, an annual celebration of film and television, had nothing to do with the cuts to the “Killers of the Flower Moon” star’s comments, according to insiders. A spokesman for De Niro said that the actor’s team did not make the changes.
A source close to the film denied that this was censorship and said that the incident was a miscommunication. There have been several versions of De Niro’s speech and there is a desire to focus solely on the filmmakers and their artistry, the source said. Apple and the filmmakers were unaware that De Niro had not approved the final draft, the insider added.
De Niro had the opportunity to express his criticism by reading his remarks from his phone. “Lying has become another tool in the charlatan’s arsenal,” De Niro said. “The former president lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office. And he is maintaining the pace of his current campaign of retaliation. But despite all his lies, he can’t hide his soul. He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows disrespect, for example by using “Pocahontas” as a swear word.”
Spokespeople for the Gotham Awards and Apple declined to comment.