De Niro claims Apple censored his Martin Scorsese tribute speech

Robert De Niro read the rest from his phone after Apple or the Gotham Awards cut from his teleprompter speech a political segment, including Trump criticisms.
Martin Scorsese’s Apple TV+ film “Killers of the Flower Moon” won the 2023 Gotham Awards. His Gotham historical icon and creator tribute came from Robert De Niro. The actor had more to say after his speech, so he did.

Saying, “I just want to say one thing,” I was unaware that my speech’s beginning was edited. I want to read it.”

Under applause, De Niro read 150 words from his phone about how “history is not history anymore… even facts are being replaced by alternative facts.”

“The entertainment industry is not immune to this festering disease,” he acknowledged. I do not think we did wrong by taking this great country from them,’ said John Wayne. Many needed new land, but Indians wanted it for themselves.”

De Niro said, “The former president lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four…,” pausing only to acknowledge applause. “Thank you. Four years in office, and he’s continuing his retribution campaign.”

“But with all his lies, he can’t hide his soul,” De Niro said. “He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature, and shows disrespect, for example, by using Pocahontas as a slur.”

Blaming Apple and event organizers
After reading these prepared remarks from his phone, De Niro criticized the Gotham Awards and Apple for removing them from his teleprompter.

“This is where I came in, and I saw that they edited all that,” he said. “I’ll say these things to Apple and thank them, Gotham, etc. But I don’t feel like thanking them for their work.”

He concluded, “How dare they do that, actually?”

Apple and Gotham Festival organizers have not commented. Who removed the segment from De Niro’s script is unknown. However, the Gotham Awards’ YouTube channel has posted De Niro’s entire speech, including his criticism.