Robert De Niro has claimed his speech at the Gotham Awards was censored during the live ceremony to remove comments about Donald Trump.
The actor appeared at the ceremony in New York on Monday night (November 27), where he presented the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute awards to Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon.
During his speech, De Niro claimed there was a “mistake” while reading the autocue. “I’m going to go back, I’m sorry,” the actor said (via Variety). “There was a mistake in this. I’ll keep going. Just keep scrolling.”
Doubling back, he added: “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. History isn’t history anymore. Truth is not truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts, and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness.”
“i have to thank apple and all that but i don’t feel like thanking them at all for what they did. how DARE they?”
robert de niro qas absolutely brilliant during his #gothamawards speech presentation
— lulo | ed teach supporter (@mishajackles) November 28, 2023
“In Florida, young students are taught that slaves developed skills that could be applied for their personal benefit. 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 added.
Speaking about Trump, De Niro said: “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.
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“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.”
De Niro then suggested that he was supposed to thank the Gotham Awards and Apple, adding: “But I don’t feel like thanking them at all for what they did. How dare they do that, actually.”
NME has contacted the Gotham Awards for comment.
De Niro plays William King Hale in Killers Of The Flower Moon opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. The latter won the award for Outstanding Lead Performance in The Unknown Country at the Gotham Awards.
Other winners at the event include Past Lives, which won Best Feature, and Beef’s Ali Wong, who picked up Outstanding Performance In A New Series.