"Man doesn't mince words": Internet reacts as Robert De Niro blasts Gotham Awards for editing anti-Trump speech 

On the night of November 27, two-time Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro was present at the Gotham Awards 2023 to honor his 2023 Martin Scorsese epic drama Killers of the Flower Moon. The legendary Taxi Driver star declared on stage that his original speech was cut short on the teleprompter, by the event officials, without consent.

Robert De Niro was especially offended about the part of his speech where he intended to talk about former U.S. President Donald Trump and claimed in front of a live audience that Killers of the Flower Moon producer Apple and the Gotham Awards authorities censored the speech.

He stated,

“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."

The video of Robert De Niro’s speech has now gone viral online with netizens showering praises on him for calling out the parties involved in editing his alleged anti-Trump speech. In this regard, this is what an X (formerly Twitter) user commented.

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Exploring the Robert De Niro drama at the Gotham Awards 2023

On Monday night, Robert De Niro was on stage at the Gotham Awards 2023 to deliver his speech. However, the political part of it was omitted, without notice, by the Gotham Awards officials and Apple, who were the producers of his film Killers of the Flower Moon for which he was attending the event.

When the 80-year-old De Niro realized what had happened, he told the audience how he was “sorry” and was “going to go back,” and pointed out that there was a “mistake” in his speech, which differed from the one he originally intended to speak. However, he quickly recovered by saying how he would “keep going” and say what he wanted to say.

Robert De Niro continued by saying how students in Florida are being taught that slaves developed skills that were personally beneficial to them. Likewise, he also pointed out how The Duke, John Wayne said that illegally taking away lands of Native Americans was nothing wrong as they were “selfishly trying to keep it [the land] for themselves.”

The Intern actor also added how “the entertainment industry isn’t immune to this festering disease,” either. From here, he moved on to directly talking about Donald Trump.

He continued,

“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.”

The Raging Bull star further said that Trump attacks the weak, destroys “gifts of nature,” and disrespects using slurs such as ‘Pocahontas.’ Besides, De Niro said that filmmakers in contrast “strive,” and then said that all these were edited from his original speech.

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“So much respect for that”: Fans laud Robert De Niro for slamming Gotham Awards officials for cutting short his speech

Robert De Niro could not deliver the entirety of his original speech at the 2023 Gotham Awards and had confusion with the teleprompter. However, he soon made up for it by standing on stage in front of a live audience and speaking from his memory about the state of the country, Donald Trump’s lies and wrongdoings, and more.

But after he was done speaking, he blasted both Apple, the producer of his 2023 film, and the Gotham Awards “for what they did.”

Before accepting an award for his 2023 film Killers of the Flower Moon, he wrapped up with:

“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."

Just like the live audience, netizens too, applauded Robert De Niro for blasting the authorities for cutting his speech short without permission and condemned Apple and Gotham Awards. Here are some of the reactions from the comment section of @NextBestPicture’s tweet on the same.

So far, neither Apple nor the Gotham Awards authorities have commented on Robert De Niro’s accusations. Meanwhile, for those unaware, Robert De Niro accepted the Gotham Historical Icon Award and the Creator Tribute Award on behalf of his Killers of the Flower Moon director Martin Scorsese.

It was an epic Western crime drama based on the 2017 non-fiction book of the same name penned by David Grann and having the subtitle ‘The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI.’

The plot revolves around 1920s Oklahoma and a series of murders of Osage tribesmen after oil was discovered on their land and its aftermath. Apart from De Niro, the film also starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in lead roles.