Who censored Robert De Niro?
The “Killers of the Flower Moon” actor was preparing to criticize Donald Trump at the Gotham Awards on Monday, but when he took the stage he discovered that the speech he was planning to give had been edited at the request of Apple, the film’s producer. The company was responding to comments from the film’s making team that wanted the actor’s comments to focus on the film, according to a source.
The actor said he was not informed of the changes, which led to any mention of the former president being deleted. De Niro, who was on hand to introduce Killers of the Flower Moon with the historical Gotham icon and honor the creator, criticized the awards ceremony and Apple. “I don’t feel like thanking them at all for what they did,” he said. “How dare they actually do that?”
An edited version of the speech was delivered to the teleprompter less than ten minutes before the event began, according to sources familiar with the show. A woman who asked the teleprompter operator to load a new speech was heard identifying herself as an Apple employee. At 6:54 p.m., the teleprompter company received an email from two Apple employees containing the new text, which deleted explicit references to Trump. Instead, De Niro noted that “watching the news today” makes it clear that “we actually live in a post-truth society.” diverse He reviewed a copy of this email. Gothams, an annual celebration of film and television, had nothing to do with the “Killers of the Flower Moon” star’s comments cuts, according to insiders. A De Niro spokesman said the cast had not made the changes.
A source close to the film denied any censorship and said the incident was a misunderstanding. There were multiple versions of De Niro’s speech, and there was a desire to focus solely on the filmmakers and their artistry, according to the source. The insider added that Apple and the filmmakers were unaware that De Niro had not signed off on the final draft.
De Niro got a chance to make his criticism by reading his statements from his phone. “Lying has become just another tool in the charlatan’s arsenal,” De Niro said. “The former president lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office. He is continuing his current revenge campaign. But with all his lies, he can’t hide his soul. He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows disrespect, for example, by using the word “Pocahontas” as an insult.
Spokespeople for the Gotham Awards and Apple declined to comment.
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