Robert De Niro Slams Apple And Gotham Awards For Censoring His Anti-Trump Remarks: “How Dare They Do That”

By Samantha Nungesser @samjnungesser
Published Nov. 28, 2023, 9:42 a.m. ET

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Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro didn’t go out quietly when he realized his anti-Trump remarks were cut from his Gotham Awards speech without his knowledge.

During Monday night’s (Nov. 27) ceremony, the actor came on stage to honor Martin Scorsese‘s historical drama, Killers of the Flower Moon, which followed the murders of Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma. After talking about the film, De Niro told the audience that the beginning of his speech was “edited, cut out” and he “didn’t know about it.”

The Oscar-winner proceeded to pull out his phone, where he could read the original speech.

“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 said. “In Florida, young students are taught that slaves developed skills which can be applied for their personal benefit.”

He continued, “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.'”

De Niro then called out Former President Donald Trump, who is running for office again in 2024.

“Lying has become just another tool in the charlatan’s arsenal,” he said. “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.”

When the About My Father star finished reading the edited portion of his speech, he called out Apple — which backed Killers of the Flower Moon — and the Gotham Awards for changing things up behind his back.

“I’m going to say these things but to Apple and thank them and all that. Gotham, blah blah blah, Apple,” he said, before adding, “But I don’t feel like thanking them at all for what they did. How dare they do that, actually.”

Decider has reached out to reps for the Gotham Awards and Apple for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.