The internet is now in turmoil over Robert De Niro’s speech at the 2018 Tony Awards, which was basically De Niro saying ‘F-you’ to the president. Observers know that this is yet another in a list of incidents that saw Bobby D talk down to Donald Trump.
Robert de Niro’s ‘Fuck Trump’ speech at Tony awards
The actor and long-time critic of Donald Trump receives a standing ovation at Sunday night’s Tony awards in New York after attacking the US president on stage at Radio City Music Hall Subscribe to Guardian News http://bit.ly/guardianwiressub * De Niro receives ovation for speech at Tony awards https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/11/robert-de-niro-wins-ovation-fuck-trump-speech-tony-awards Support the Guardian https://theguardian.com/supportus The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com The Guardian YouTube network: The Guardian www.youtube.com/theguardian Owen Jones talks http://bit.ly/subsowenjones Guardian Football http://is.gd/guardianfootball Guardian Sport http://bit.ly/GDNsport Guardian Culture http://is.gd/guardianculture Guardian Science and Tech http://is.gd/guardiantech
Though celebrities have long been speaking out on political concerns, De Niro’s comments were directed at the man who many believe is an affront to simple decency and to the office in which he sits.
More people speak Spanish in New York than on the island of Puerto Rico. Yet, a president who claims he’s not racist, consistently demeans Spanish-speaking people. That is but one of the litany of reasons why De Niro may have seen it as his duty as a forward-thinking white male to take him to task.
However, like antagonizing a chimp with a machine gun, not everyone thinks this was a good idea.
I used to think it was good for people to call Trump out, Kenneth Lonergan the liberal playwright behind the best revival of a play nominee Lobby Hero and Oscar-winning screenwriter of Manchester by the Sea told The Washington Post at one gathering. Im just self-defeatist about it. I guess a lot of people like Robert De Niro, he said. But is he really going to change anyones mind? It just becomes more fodder for the right.
Indeed, while it may make us feel like someone is standing up to a bully when De Niro and like-minded celebrities confront the president in this manner, Trump has proven that he is one of the pettiest people to exist, ever.
Addressing him directly in ANY manner only fuels him toward new and wildly imaginative acts of disrespect and childishness.
