After noticing that a sizable chunk of his speech is removed from a teleprompter, the 'Killers of the Flower Moon' actor begins reading his original script from his phone screen.
- Nov 28, 2023
AceShowbiz - Robert De Niro has been showered with praise for speaking up on censorship. After claiming that his anti-Trump comments were slashed from his speech at Gotham Awards, the "Savage Salvation" actor received support from many social media users.
In the comments section of an Instagram post featuring a video from the event, one Instagram user gushed over the 80-year-old actor, "Ooo I love you #robertdeniro thank u for speaking up." Another joined in, "Use your voice, use your platform," adding a thumbs up and clapping hands emojis.
The positive online responses did not stop there. A third penned, "Robert De Niro is a great actor and an even greater activist and telling it how it is." Meanwhile, a fourth thanked him by writing, "Thank you Robert DiNero! We are living in a time when we must be politically involved. Our very lives and the lives of our children depend on it. We must fight the good fight for all our sakes."
On Monday night, November 27, Robert stepped on a podium at the Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York City to represent "Killers of the Flower Moon" in accepting the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute award. During his speech, he noticed that his script had been edited and several comments were not displayed on a teleprompter. He then quickly switched to read his original speech from his phone screen.
"I'm going to go back. I'm sorry. Okay, there was a mistake in this. I'll keep going. Just keep scrolling," he began saying, via Variety. "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," he stated. "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," Robert continued. "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.' "
"Lying has become just another tool in the charlatans arsenal," he added. "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."
The actor additionally declared, "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."
Before wrapping up his speech, Robert stated, "So I'm going to say these things but to Apple and thank them all that. Gotham, blah blah blah, but I don't feel like thanking them at all for what they did. How dare they do that, actually. But now I will go to: Accepting the award for 'Killers of the Flower Moon'."
