Robert De Niro took the stage at the 33rd annual Gotham Awards Monday night (November 27th) to present the Historical Icon and Creator Tribute award. However, as he was reading his speech from the teleprompter, the Goodfellas actor shared that part of it had been cut.
“I just want to say one thing. The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out, I didn’t know about it. And I want to read it,” De Niro said, taking out his phone to read what he had originally written.
“History isn’t history anymore,” the Killers of the Flower Moon actor said, in part. “Truth is not truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness. In Florida, young students are taught that slaves developed skills which can be applied for their personal benefit.”
He continued, “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.”
De Niro then blasted Apple for censoring his speech. He told the audience he was supposed to thank Apple for backing Killers of the Flower Moon, but he declined to do so. “I don’t feel like thanking them at all, for what they did. How dare they do that, actually,” he said.