Robert De Niro refused to talk when asked about his awards ceremony blowup where he accused the organizers of censoring an anti-Trump rant from his speech.
The actor, 80, was cagey when approached by DailyMail.com to elaborate on the outburst at the Gotham Independent Film Awards Monday night.
De Niro was left fuming after he claimed a portion of his speech was edited out because it contained a number of barbs about the former president.
The Taxi Driver star went on to deliver the section in full and then blasted Apple, the Awards’ organizer, for deleting the speech.
But on Tuesday, De Niro was tight-lipped telling DailyMail.com, ‘No, no, I don’t want to make any comment,’ when asked about the incident.
A cagey Robert De Niro was prickly when asked if he had anything to say about his rant at the Gotham Independent Film Awards after he accused organizers of censoring his speech
The 80-year-old hit out at Gotham Awards and Apple for allegedly deleting a portion of his speech from the teleprompter because it contained jibes about Donald Trump
De Niro has been vocal in his criticism of the former president and was spotted clutching a copy of the book Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party, the day after the awards show incident
De Niro was spotted later on Tuesday returning to his townhouse with his book on Tuesday evening
Earlier in the day, the award-winning actor swerved questions as he got into a car waiting outside his home
The Hollywood actor was seen exiting his New York apartment clutching a copy of ‘Tired of Winning: Donald Trump and the End of the Grand Old Party’ by John Karl.
Sporting a black beanie and a face mask, a visibly annoyed De Niro repeatedly refused to talk about the incident, and used a bag to try and obscure his face as he exited his Upper East Side townhouse.
He then ordered a DailyMail.com reporter to ‘get the door’ to his chauffeur-driven black Cadillac Escalade before hopping in and slamming it behind him.
De Niro has been open in his criticism of the former president, stepping up his barbs ahead of the 2016 election.
Last month, he sent a statement to be read in his absence at the Stop Trump Summit, which was organized by The New Republic magazine.
He was at the glitzy award ceremony to deliver a speech in tribute to his critically acclaimed Western crime epic Killers Of The Flower Moon, which was directed by his longtime friend and collaborator Martin Scorsese.
De Niro was there to accept the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute award on the film’s behalf and appeared at the event with his co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone.
But at one point the veteran actor stumbled during the speech, before going on to explain his confusion.
Out of his element: Robert De Niro, 80, flubbed his lines and looked confused after part of his anti-Trump speech was allegedly edited out without his knowledge at the 2023 Gotham Awards on Monday
‘I just want to say one thing,’ De Niro said. ‘The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out, and I didn’t know about it. And I want to read it’ before launching into the speech
‘The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out, and I didn’t know about it. And I want to read it,’ he said.
‘History isn’t history anymore. Truth is not truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness,’ he said as he delved into his earlier remarks.
‘In Florida, young students are taught that slaves were taught skills that could be applied for their personal benefit,’ De Niro continued. ‘The entertainment industry isn’t immune to this festering disease.
He also referenced a racist statement from a 1971 Playboy interview with John Wayne.
‘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.’
‘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 in his current campaign of retribution. But in all his lies, he can’t hide his soul,’ De Niro continued.
‘He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows disrespect by, for example, using Pocahontas as a slur.’
The Hollywood actor attended the event with his girlfriend Tiffany Chen with the couple seen arriving together
De Niro was paying tribute to his new film Killers Of The Flower Moon (pictured) and accepting the Gotham Historical Icon and Creator Tribute award on its behalf
He concluded by hitting out at Gotham Awards and Apple, the film’s producer, for apparently censoring his remarks.
Instead of finishing with a typical message of gratitude he said: ‘I don’t really feel like thanking them at all for what they did.
‘How dare they do that, actually? But now I will go to accepting the award.’
The speech earned him rapturous applause and some awkward laughter from the audience.
His appearance at the event comes just weeks after he was ordered to pay $1.2 million in damages to his former assistant as part of a gender discrimination lawsuit.
While the jury found De Niro was not personally liable for the abuse, it said his company, Canal Productions, engaged in gender discrimination and retaliation against former assistant Graham Chase Robinson and should make two payments of $632,142 to her.
De Niro has been ensnared in dueling lawsuits with Robinson since she quit in April 2019.
Both he and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen took the stand during the weeks long trial.
The couple were both in attendance at last night’s awards and recently revealed they had a welcomed a child – De Niro’s seventh – together.