Awkward moment Robert De Niro messes up speech before claiming it had secretly been edited behind his back

Robert De Niro claims his Gotham Awards speech was edited without him being told.

Last night (Monday, 28 November) the Killers of the Flower Moon star took to the stage at the 2023 Gotham Independent Film Awards in New York.

De Niro began to present the Martin Scorsese movie, but stopped early on in his speech after realising there was 'a mistake'.

De Niro began his speech by saying: "Watching the news these days makes one think, from a political point of view anyway, that we actually are living in a post-truth society.

“Filmmakers on the other hand at least aim for the truth. We’re telling stories about real people, people we can relate to; we have no other agenda than to engage, enlighten and entertain, and through his films Marty Scorsese has illuminated the lessons of history with fascinating and absorbing stories. He treats his subjects with honesty and respect."

However, De Niro quickly realised there was a 'mistake,' checking his printed comments and asking autocue operators to rewind his speech.

When the cameras came back onto him after a clip of Principal Chief of the Osage nation Geoffrey Standing Bear and Scorsese played, De Niro continued: "I just want to say one thing. The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out, I didn’t know about it. And I want to read it."

And read it the actor certainly did.

De Niro continued: "History isn’t history any more; truth is not truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness. In Florida, young students are taught that slaves developed skills which could be applied for their personal benefit.

“The entertainment industry isn’t immune to this festering disease. The 'Duke' John Wayne famously said of Native Americans, 'I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves'."

The actor then went on to refer to former US president Donald Trump and reflect on how he 'lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office'.

"And he’s keeping up the pace in his current campaign of retribution," he adds.

And De Niro doesn't stop there, continuing: "But with all his [Trump's] 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 strive - this is where I came in and I saw that they edited all that.

"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 did. How dare they do that, actually."

UNILAD has contacted Apple and Gotham Awards for comment.