Robert De Niro says his Gotham Awards speech was censored without notice
Robert De Niro claims his recent Gotham Awards speech was censored without notice. During the live ceremony, the director claimed his speech had been edited to remove negative Donald Trump comments.
De Niro was at the event to introduce the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute award on behalf of Killers of the Flower Moon, the recent movie directed by the great Martin Scorsese.
The strange moment began when De Niro said, “I’m going to go back. I’m sorry. Okay, there was a mistake in this. I’ll keep going. Just keep scrolling,” suggesting something was wrong with his speech.
He then doubled back, adding: “I just want to say one thing, the beginning of my speech was edited, cut out, and I didn’t know about it. And I want to read it”. Diving into a takedown on modern culture and education, he continued: “History isn’t history anymore. Truth is not truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts, and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness.”
“In Florida, young students are taught that slaves developed skills that could be applied for their personal benefit,” De Niro added. “The entertainment industry isn’t immune to this festering disease. The Duke, John Wayne, famously said of Native Americans, ‘I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.’”
He then turned his critique to Donald Trump, continuing, “Lying has become just another tool in the charlatan’s arsenal. The former President lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office. And he’s keeping up the pace in his current campaign of retribution.”
“But with 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 slur. Filmmakers, on the other hand, strive — this is where I came in and I saw that they edited all that,” he said.
“So I’m going to say these things but to Apple and thank them all that,” De Niro concluded, “Gotham, blah blah blah, but I don’t feel like thanking them at all for what they did. How dare they do that, actually.”
See the speech below.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.