Emotions ran high at Sunday’s Tony Awards when Parkland High School students performed a stirring Rent number, but there was no nuance to be found during another big moment of the night. When Robert De Niro took the stage to introduce Bruce Springsteen’s performance at Radio City Music Hall, the Taxi Driver actor was bleeped multiple times. As it turns out (as revealed in this uncensored video from The Guardian), he went full-on Travis Bickle with a pointed message. “I just want to say one thing,” De Niro declared with two raised fists. “F*ck Trump. It’s no longer down with Trump. It’s f*ck Trump.”
Audience members visibly cheered De Niro’s first f-bomb, and then when he dropped the second one, people began rising for a standing ovation. Yet De Niro wasn’t done yet. “In these perilous times, you rock the vote, always fighting for truth, transparency and integrity in government,” he said during his (not-at-all) impromptu political mini-rally. “Boy, do we need that now!”
The outburst truly comes as no surprise. For years, De Niro has made no secret that he’s not a fan of the sitting president. At the high point of 2016 election season, he expressed the desire to punch Trump in a video that was originally filmed for the “Get Out The Vote” campaign. More recently, he referred to Trump as the “Jerkoff-in-chief.” De Niro received clear approval for his words on the Tonys scene, but his approach has opened him up to criticism for hijacking the esteemed event. Nonetheless, De Niro has declared all along that he won’t stop slamming Trump, so don’t expect him to change tactics anytime soon.
(Via The Guardian)