Robert De Niro was left unimpressed at the Gotham Awards last night after parts of his speech criticizing Donald Trump were edited from the teleprompter without his knowledge.
Introducing an award for the latest Martin Scorsese film, Killers of The Flower Moon, produced by Apple Studios in which he stars alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, De Niro looked confused as the words on the autocue didn’t line up with his planned speech.
After realizing his criticism of Trump was removed, De Niro took his phone from his pocket and read his original speech before accusing Apple and the Gotham Awards of tampering with his words, “So I’m going to say these things – to Apple and thank them, all that. Gothams. Blah blah blah. Apple. But I don’t really feel like thanking them at all for what they did. How dare they do that, actually?”
Apple declined to comment, and the award organizers are yet to respond. This is the second time in as many weeks that Apple has been accused of censorship after a fallout with Jon Stewart that led to his talk show being axed from Apple TV Plus despite critical success and Emmy nominations.
Killers of the Flower Moon’s award season kicks off
Killers of the Flower Moon has received huge praise from audiences and critics alike and is due for release on Apple TV Plus in the near future. The film, which follows the story of oil-money-fueled murders in the Osage Nation, is expected to receive multiple award nominations for Apple TV Plus. The streaming service won “Best Picture” in 2022 when CODA won the award, but had a much quieter year in 2023 with a single nomination for Brian Tyree Henry as “Best Supporting Actor” in Causeway.
The Gotham Awards kicks off the award ceremony season, so we’re excited to see if any of the best Apple TV Plus movies pick up some accolades.
