Taking the stage at Cipriani Wall Street to present Martin Scorsese’s epic crime drama with the Icon & Creator Tribute, De Niro stumbled less than two minutes into his speech, rifling through his printed remarks as the audience sat in stunned silence.
“There was a mistake, and I’m going to continue,” the two-time Oscar winner said, before asking the autocue operators to rewind so he could resume his speech.
A few minutes later, after a pre-recorded clip of Scorsese – who did not attend the ceremony – and Principal Chief of the Osage Nation Geoffrey Standing Bear discussing the film, the cameras were back on De Niro.
“I just want to say one thing,” said the actor, who plays the villainous William Hale in the blistering chronicle of white murder against the oil-rich Osage Nation in the 1920s. “The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out, I didn’t know about it. And I want to read it.”
To a wave of cheers and applause from the audience, De Niro, who was by then reading from his phone, said: “History isn’t history anymore; truth isn’t truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness. In Florida, young students are being taught that slaves developed skills that could be used to their personal advantage.
“The entertainment industry isn’t immune to this festering disease. The Duke” John Wayne famously said of the Native Americans: “I don’t feel we did anything wrong when we took this great country away from them. There were a lot of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.
De Niro continued: “Lying has become just another tool in the arsenal of charlatans. The former president [Donald Trump, who was often the subject of De Niro’s scorn during his first term] lied to us more than 30,00 times during his four years in office, and he’s keeping up the pace in his current campaign of retribution. But for all his lies, he can’t hide his soul: he attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows disrespect, for example by using Pocahontas as a slur.
“Filmmakers, on the other hand, try – this is where I came in and saw that they had edited all that, so I’m going to say these things to Apple and thank them and all that, Gotham blah blah blah, Apple – but I don’t feel like thanking them at all for what they’ve done. How dare they do that.
At this point De Niro invited Killers Of The Flower Moon cast members Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Yancey Red Corn, Talee Red Corn, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, Jillian Dion, Janae Collins and William Bellow to the stage. Gladstone spoke as DiCaprio looked on.
De Niro began his speech by saying: “Watching the news these days, you would think, at least from a political standpoint, that we actually live in a post-truth society.
“Filmmakers, on the other hand, at least strive for the truth. We tell stories about real people, people we can relate to; we have no agenda other than to engage, enlighten and entertain, and through his films Marty Scorsese has illuminated the lessons of history with fascinating and compelling stories. He treats his subjects with honesty and respect.
