Killers of the Flower Moon star Robert De Niro was confused when he took the stage at the Gotham Awards in New York City on Monday night.
The Oscar-winning actor was on hand to introduce the Historical Icon and Creator Tribute award for Martin Scorsese’s Apple film, which also stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone.
When De Niro began reading his prepared remarks for the introduction of the award, he noticed his comments had been edited. A video aired of the iconic director and Osage chief Geoffrey Standing Bear discussing the film, and then De Niro insisted he read the original speech he was going to give, which featured several specific, political comments, including ones about former President Donald Trump.
“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,” De Niro said onstage. “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 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,” referencing Trump’s popular nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
The actor then informed the audience that this is where his speech resumed and seemingly blamed Killers studio Apple for cutting part of his speech.
“I’m gonna say these things, but to Apple and thank them and all that, Gothams, blah, blah, blah, Apple,” De Niro said. “But I don’t feel like thanking them at all after what they did. How dare they do that, actually?”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to reps for the Gotham Awards and Apple for comment.
This isn’t the first time De Niro has spoken out against Trump, comparing his time as president to “an abusive relationship.”
“You don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t feel safe,” he said on Michael Moore’s podcast Rumble in 2019 about Trump’s time in office. “The president is such an idiot and doesn’t do anything that we can rely on or feel safe about, even good intentions — he has no good intentions. That’s your role as president, to make people feel good and positive. Even though it’s easier said than done, that’s your responsibility as president. He doesn’t have any of that, as we all know.”
De Niro also famously shouted “Fuck Trump” as he took the stage at the 2018 Tony Awards.
At other points during the 2023 Gotham Awards, Past Lives won best feature, while Anatomy of a Fall and Beef each won two awards.
See the full list of winners.
