Robert De Niro Claims Gotham Awards Speech Was ‘Cut Out’
Robert De Niro claimed Gotham Awards edited out part of his anti-Trump lines and other political comments without permission.
De Niro was presenting the Historical Icon and Creator Tribute Award at the Gotham Awards, held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York on Monday, but realized something was odd about his prepared script. Mid-speech, he paused and noticed bits of his speech weren’t on the teleprompter.
“I just want to say one thing,” he revealed. “The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out. I didn’t know about it. I want to read it.”
Robert De Niro said his speech criticizing former President Donald Trump at the Gotham Awards was edited on the teleprompter without his consent — so he read his original remarks off his phone instead pic.twitter.com/hLXQ2vFHGM
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 29, 2023
Meanwhile, before handing out the award for the historical crime drama, in which he stars as William King Hale, the audience members cheered for the Oscar winner as he pulled out his phone to look for his original speech.
“History isn’t history anymore, he revealed. “Truth is not truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness.”
The Killers of the Flower Moon actor referred to changes to Flordia’s school curriculum, teaching students that African Americans benefited from slavery. “In Flordia young students are taught that slaves develop skills which could be applied for their personal benefit,” he mentioned.
“The entertainment industry isn’t immune to this festering disease,” he added. “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.”
Meanwhile, De Niro changed the course of his speech, calling out the former president, Donald Trump, for lying throughout his presidency, which “has become just another tool in the charlatans,” he stated.
“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 concluded.
Watch Robert De Niro’s full speech in the video below.
