The mystery around Robert De Niro’s “censored” Gotham Awards speech deepens
It's not that Apple didn't want De Niro to talk about Trump, but it might as well be
Aux News Robert De Niro
At last night’s Gotham Awards, Robert De Niro made a speech about Martin Scorsese and Killers Of The Flower Moon that, naturally (for De Niro), veered into a whole thing about Donald Trump and how he “lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office” and how his lies can’t “hide his soul.” But, when De Niro first took the stage and approached the teleprompter, he discovered that his speech had been mysteriously edited to remove the direct references to Trump and replace them with vague stuff about “watching the news today.” De Niro then suggested that the Gotham Awards and Apple (the studio behind Killers Of The Flower Moon) had conspired to edit his speech, remarking, “How dare they do that, actually.”
Today, some more details about what the heck happened have come out, with Variety indicating that it was less of a terrible conspiracy and more of an odd miscommunication—or at least that’s the unofficial official story. Supposedly, someone who was “overheard identifying herself as an Apple employee” instructed the teleprompter operator to upload a “revised version of the speech” just a few minutes before the event started, with “two Apple employees” then passing along the new text, without the Trump stuff, in an email.
The Gotham Awards deny any involvement, and a spokesperson for De Niro confirmed to Variety that he didn’t know anything about it until he saw it on the teleprompter, but—supposedly—this had nothing to do with censorship. According to “a source close to the film,” there had simply been “multiple versions of De Niro’s speech” floating around, and Apple thought the plan was to use a draft that specifically focused on Killers Of The Flower Moon. Everyone involved with that decision was also supposedly “unaware” that De Niro wasn’t privy to that decision and hadn’t signed off on that version of the speech.
That explanation, assuming it’s legitimate, still doesn’t really let Apple off the hook. Saying “we thought everyone wanted to focus on the movie” doesn’t not mean “we didn’t want him to talk about Trump,” and the fact that De Niro apparently didn’t have any idea this was happening effectively makes it not no different from the censorship conspiracy he claimed it was. So, yeah, Apple censored the speech, but maybe it didn’t do it on purpose?
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DeNiro continues the fabulous tale of “Trump’s 30,000 lies”. So fun that academics claimed to be counting these alleged lies. So fun that showbiz asshats like DeNiro quote those academics. So fun that so many of these geeks hate Trump. They obviously do not care about most of America. That’s OK, because most of America don’t care about them either. F-O, DeNiro, you’re just a faded old prat with an inflated view of himself.
Wait, so the academics counted the lies, meaning the lies happened. And your focus is the guy who’s not president.
Have they continued counting the lies coming out of the current White House, with this Alzheimer’s, dementia ridden, pudding for brains POTUS? Or is Trump the only politician who has ever lied?
Person. Man. Woman. Camera. TV!
not sure i follow.
Trump barely does either.
You nailed him that time, that’ll surely keep him from being your next President again.
Sure. And farting out everything you read on twitter about the current president is all so fresh, you definitely nailed him, and your twitter diss will surely keep him from becoming president again. Maybe if you talk in code, you know, like how adults do, you’ll stop Brandon. Perhaps if you open fire on some Bud Light cans.
Do you have something against geeks?
Sir, this is Arby’s.
So fun. And here I thought us costal elites were the smug ones? Jesus Christ. Why is it “obvious” people do not care about America? Because you say so?
Sure, but to be fair Trump is a piece of useless garbage, so there’s that.
“just a faded old prat with an inflated view of himself” – Who are we talking about here?
Great point. Plus this is all coming from an actor aka a liar. De Niro has never even been in the mob I bet.
“…you’re just a faded old prat with an inflated view of himself.”You realize you just described the object of his ire, perfectly.I love Trumper Republicans. They’ve managed to evolve to a place of having zero self awareness.
Don’t worry. They still have James Woods.
Except one man reached the stratosphere of POTUS, not just once, but soon to be twice. While the other is an old man yelling at the clouds.
“Except one man reached the stratosphere of POTUS, not just once, but soon to be twice. While the other is an old man yelling at the clouds.”Joe Biden is not part of this discussion, but you are right…he will be POTUS twice and Trump will be yelling at the clouds, probably from house arrest at Mar-A-Lardo.
I sure you and Mr. Tough Guy DeNiro have enough friends family around you to help console you when Trump inevitably gets sworn in as your President again. Nobody other the the rich elites and upper class can honestly look at the current situation, the direction this country is going in, and will pull the lever and say i want 4 more years of this. Unless Biden dies first, he will lose re-election.
“I sure you and Mr. Tough Guy DeNiro have enough friends family around you to help console you when Trump inevitably gets sworn in as your President again”I’m sure you’ll still be around when Dump is convicted of his many felonious charges and gets disqualified from the office.
You should really consider turning off the MSNBC, they lie to you, and it rots your brain. Your soon to be next President, Donald J. Trump, is not getting convicted of any felonies. The only way to bar him from being President again, keeping him off the ballot per the 14th Amendment, which i am sure is what you and your ilk refer to, is for him to be found guilty of sedition, and/or treason. He literally hasn’t even been charged with either, so explain to me how he can be barred from the ballot due to his guiltiness of crimes, if he hasn’t even been charged?
I actually don’t watch any 24 hour news network, so you’re now 0-2 on predictions.Donald J. Trump will be convicted of felonies and will not be the next POTUS.Its cute that you think he will be, though.Oh and the 14th amendment does NOT require sedition or treason. Perhaps you should actually read the Constitution and its amendments instead of spewing forth nonsense spoon-fed to you by right wing nutjobs.
You can pretend to be holier than thou, but you do watch, or else you wouldn’t be coming up with these ideas of lunacy that Trump will be disqualified from running for office. I’m sure you were full on Trump is a Russian asset being controlled by Putin, pee tapes, yadda yadda yadda. You should listen a little closer to your “24 hour news network” and they’ll tell you the 14th DOES mention barring those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding elected office. So again, i refer to your comment “I’m sure you’ll still be around when Dump is convicted of his many felonious charges and gets disqualified from the office.” What guilty verdict will bar him from office? I will repeat, he has not been charges with “insurrection” or “treason”, can’t be found guilty of something you haven’t been been charged with, that’s that pesky little thing people refer to as due process.
“You can pretend to be holier than thou, but you do watch, or else you wouldn’t be coming up with these ideas of lunacy that Trump will be disqualified from running for office.”Not from watching 24 hour news networks, that’s for sure. Nor by listening to political talking heads.So, congrats, now you are 0-3.
“I will repeat, he has not been charges with “insurrection” or “treason”,”No, that is the first time you used the word “insurrection”, so now you are outright lying.Keep going, Trumper, just exposing your inanity.
you got me, i mixed up sedition/insurrection, sorry was going off rote, i didn’t properly research the term mentioned in the Amendment, yes i understand words matter, but they’ve been colloquially synonymous recently. Regardless, I’m still waiting for you to cite the felonious charge that Trump will be found guilty off that will bar him from running, and odds are likely, winning office.
He’s being charged with inciting or being part of an insurrection which is directly disqualifiable under the 14th amendment. Heck, even that Colorado judge which ruled against removing him from the ballot ruled that he was part of an insurrection.Now, will they get there? Who knows. But he aint gonna be POTUS again, that’s for sure. Anybody who thinks he will be has been inundated with nutjob RW media which is entirely based on getting you to rage to get ratings and grift.Which, amusingly, is also Trump’s entire modus operandi.
I think you’re failing to understand the charges that have been brought against him, i know there’s numerous, we’re up to 90 or so right? Which jurisdiction is charging him with “being part of an insurrection”, because i can’t seem to find that anywhere. And a judge saying she thought he “engaged in insurrection” in a decision of a civil lawsuit, is not him being charged criminally with insurrection and being found guilty, thus barring him.If you think Trump doesn’t have a chance of being your POTUS again, then perhaps you have your head so far in the LW media sand, that you are blind to the populace sentiment that people feel this country is heading on the wrong track. You need to see that a vote for Trump this time around is more of a vote AGAINST Biden and this administration, than it is FOR Trump. Which is how the vote in 2020 went. The vote for Biden were more ANTI Trump than PRO Biden.You call out RW media’s grift, while blindly not seeing how the LW media is quietly hoping for another Trump Presidency to help keep them afloat for another 5 or 6 years, like last time around to help their dying business model because there are many “resistance” lunatics who couldn’t turn the news off during his tenure.
“ think you’re failing to understand the charges that have been brought against him”No, I think you are. If he is convicted on the Federal charges, the insurrection clause of the 14th can be directly applied.READ the indictments. Don’t just read Breitbart and OAN.“If you think Trump doesn’t have a chance of being your POTUS again, then perhaps you have your head so far in the LW media sand, that you are blind to the populace sentiment that people feel this country is heading on the wrong track.”Again, I don’t read, listen, or watch those partisan media entities. You keep insisting that I do. I know very well that a segment of the people blame Biden for things that are literally all the pandemic and Russia’s fault, one of which was bungled by the guy you want back in office and the other would not have been prevented by the same guy you want back—-unless he decided to ACTIVELY support Russia taking control of Ukrainian sovereignty. Ukraine would still be at war with Russia, and that would weaken NATO if Dump tried to unilaterally keep America from imposing severe sanctions on the Russians against what NATO wanted.You have no idea what you are actually mad at Biden for—-because it is all traceable to the guy you want back in office. Who, in ADDITION to those failings, also stole super classified documents that didn’t belong to him and did NOTHING for 3 hours to stop his idiot followers from sacking the Capitol. You want a guy back who spent 4 years egging on a divide between the two sides of left and right in this country and turned family members against each other.Trump will never be POTUS again. Whether or not everybody is thrilled with Biden is irrelevant—he has the standard incumbent bump and Trump has made sure that only his die hard followers will vote for him. A minority of the electorate.
“Most of America” couldn’t even muster half the popular vote, FYI
These guys always count massive swathes of government or privately-owned cattle country as “people”, and dense, diverse cities where most people live and perform actual labor for very low wages to support their families as non-existent or “not real Americans.” Thus the charade that they’re pro-working class and down-to-earth, while their political enemies are elitist and out-of-touch.
I am reminded of recent social media outbursts—er, posts—from members of my family, referring to themselves and those politically aligned with them as the “silent majority.” Leaving aside the questionable attachment to a term popularized by Nixon of all presidents (though maybe given the last Republican to hold the office, it’s appropriate), I can’t help but observe that the label is doubly false.
I use the term “exhausted majority” – the ones who didn’t show up to actually vote in 2016 because they assumed Sec. Clinton would win, and then turned out in HUGE numbers in 2020 because they were so sick of this shit. Biden’s win was huge, it wasn’t even close. That’s a majority of people. The ones who realized that not voting in midterms cost us Roe v Wade, but are now affirming abortion everywhere it is on the ballot, again in huge numbers.
Biden’s win was by less than 40,000. What do you mean not even close?
You do not know how the Executive is chosen in this country, you fucking communist grave digger. What you just described is in no way related to how the Executive is elected, you fucking genocidal Jimmy John’s jerkoff. STFU.
Nice try. No American calls someone a prat. I’ll be damned if some Brexiter is gonna insult the 4th best actor from Goodfellas.
Fuck off, LITERAL fascist quisling. Yeah, YOU.
“So, yeah, Apple censored the speech, but maybe it didn’t do it on purpose?”This would be more believable if someone came forward and took responsibility for the process then explained their actions. We could determine if there was any credibility to the story. But the fact that nobody is willing to come forward, take accountability, and say it was an honest mistake makes this seem like an alibi and a cover-up.
But the fact that nobody is willing to come forward, take accountability, and say it was an honest mistake makes this seem like an alibi and a cover-up.“OK, this De Niro speech thing is getting out of hand. Laura! Out of all the interns involved on the night, which one is the most disposable?”
That explanation smells like bullshit.
It’s a distinction without a difference. I get Apple not wanting an event centered around a recent high-profile release to become a DeNiro political diatribe, but whether they cut lines from his speech or “replaced” it with an earlier draft (that they probably wrote) the outcome was the same – DeNiro onstage with something he wasn’t expecting, rolling across the teleprompter. Not to mention, given who we’re talking about – how did they think he would take it??
I love that he gave zero fucks, whipped out his phone and proceeded. LOL Something tells me shit like this won’t happen again. These folks (corporations) think they can control what talent says? buahahaha
I’m disappointed that James Woods didn’t stand up and shout “TAKE MY PRESIDENT’S NAME OUT YO’ DAMN MOUTH” and then walk up and slap Bob.
I mean, I can’t believe they’d be stupid enough to change his speech and not tell him. I can TOTALLY believe they were going to try and pressure him to change the speech, then changed their minds. There’s no way in hell that doing it this way on purpose doesn’t result in exactly the type of backlash that occurred.
Why would they censor his speech? This is the hipster award ceremony, and everyone involved loathes Trump. Are they afraid of offending their audience in Brooklyn? Nah, this was just a mistake. Obvs.
Re: I Miss SplinterRead today that Paste Mag bought Jezebel & Splinter from G/O Media & Jimmy Spamfella with intention of bringing both sites back online early on in new year of 2024.
Yeah that sounds like a half assed “ a bad intern did it , then ran away” excuse . I mean its barely an excuse at all.
Hey, it’s worked before…
You know, the last words of the guy who did that, right as security escorted him out of the building, were definitely “WORTH IT.”
Preceded by “Oh my god. Oh My God. OH MY GOD!”Complete disbelief that it actually made it to air.(actually someone called the names in as a prank saying they were from
the Associated Press and supposedly “an intern” provided it to the newscast without being caught)
that never gets old lmao
So wrong but I can’t help myself.
Yeah, but why would the hipster-est hipster award ceremony for hipsters censor his speech about Trump? Are they afraid of offending their hipster audience? Please.
Because he is a cis-gendered heterosexual white male with privilege, so he must be silenced.
Wow I feel like I haven’t heard the term “hipster” in ages. Keep trying, you can bring it back!
Dude, it’s being used in this comments thread. Illustrious, you are not. Rather dim.
Listen up liberal, things like art and film appreciation are for latte-swilling, blue-haired gender studies. I learned this on a Facebook photo that had words on it like this
Communist, they honor independent films at one of the most elite restaurants in Manhattan. You are terrible at this, and probably agriculture and not-murdering people with glasses.
We’re doing the early 2010’s again! This guy is just waiting for another Gamergate to relive his glory days.
Another reason not to buy Apple stuff.
DeNiro’s TDS is only rivaled by fellow Hollywood has-been Rob Reiner.
Cowards.
DeNiro is embarrassing, holy shit.
The same Apple that cancelled Jon Stewart’s show? Yeah…