Martin Scorsese’s Netflix epic The Irishman premiered on Friday to plenty of critical praise. Joe Pesci’s characteristically curt (or nonexistent) responses to the press’ questions notwithstanding, though, some of the film’s stars are willing to do the interview circuit on the picture’s behalf. Like Robert De Niro, who plays Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran in Scorsese’s decades-spanning film about the alleged story of the rise and fall of Jimmy Hoffa. On Sunday, the veteran actor appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources to discuss the movie, as well as his ardent criticism of President Trump and Fox News.
And that’s when the De Niro we all know and love came out.
After saying Trump “should not be president, period,” host Brian Stelter noted that “folks on Fox come after you” when he says things like that. De Niro’s response? “F*ck ’em,” he declared. “F*ck ’em!” He immediately apologized for cursing to someone off-camera while Stelter explained, “This is cable so it’s not an FCC violation but it is still a Sunday morning.”
—@BrianStelter asks Robert De Niro about criticism he gets from Fox for speaking out against Trump.
"Fuck em," De Niro replies. "Fuck em."
Stelter reminds him, "This is cable, so it's not an FCC violation, but it is still a Sunday morning." pic.twitter.com/9IOo1VvXCM
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) September 29, 2019
After further prodding from the host, De Niro explained himself:
“We are at a moment in our lives, in this country, where this guy is like a gangster. He’s come along and he’s said things, done things. We say over and over again, ‘This is terrible. We’re in a terrible situation. We’re in a terrible situation.’ And this guy just keeps going on and on and on without being stopped.”
Stelter immediately called for a commercial break but the damage was already done, and everyone loved De Niro for it.
Robert De Niro goes full Robert De Niro live on CNN pic.twitter.com/IcIN7VxPM3
— Colin Jones (@colinjones) September 29, 2019
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1178339578534608898
https://twitter.com/jonlovett/status/1178338652230782976
https://twitter.com/kelleent/status/1178339865269653504
https://twitter.com/ava/status/1178338898566533120
https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1178339456379740164
https://twitter.com/loudmouthjulia/status/1178338859479904258
Anybody who is more offended by what Robert De Niro said than what Donald Trump is actually doing is part of the problem. https://t.co/OEFQ6UXTMW
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) September 29, 2019
Brace for Republicans spending a week attacking DeNiro for this. They desperately need a distraction. https://t.co/ZxFPpxkW4O
— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) September 29, 2019
https://twitter.com/stevensantos/status/1178342959890067456
Reminder that Fox News' attacks on De Niro were part of what inspired MAGA bomber Cesar Sayoc to add him to his hit list.
Sayoc's lawyers said he planned his day religiously around Fox's programming, especially Hannity—a show that zeroed in on De Nirohttps://t.co/J03T25degp
— jordan (@JordanUhl) September 29, 2019