Robert De Niro Says His Anti-Trump Comments Were Edited Out of Gotham Awards Speech

Robert De Niro‘s speech at the 2023 Gotham Awards did not go as planned.

The 80-year-old actor was present at the event on Monday (November 27) in New York City to present the Historical Icon and Creator Tribute award for Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon, which Robert starred in alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone.

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Robert read his prepared comments onstage, and after a feature video of Osage chief Geoffrey Standing Bear played, he said that the beginning of his speech was edited.

Robert then pulled out his phone to read his full remarks.

“History isn’t history anymore. Truth isn’t truth, and even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness,” he began. “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.’”

The Taxi Driver actor 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 with his current campaign of retribution. With all of his lies, he can’t hide his soul. He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows his disrespect for example using Pocahontas as a slur.”

Robert concluded his speech by blasting Apple – the studio behind Killers of the Flower Moon – and the Gotham Awards, claiming that the two were behind the edits to his speech.

“I’m gonna say these things, but to Apple and thank them and all that, Gothams, blah, blah, blah, Apple,” he said. “But I don’t feel like thanking them at all after what they did. How dare they do that, actually?”

If you didn’t see, Robert De Niro explained why Leonardo DiCaprio‘s acting method annoyed him while filming Killers of the Flower Moon.

Watch the full clip of Robert De Niro’s speech here…