Robert De Niro has been denied a prestigious award after making a speech calling Donald Trump a “clown” and a "dictator "outside the former president’s trial.

The actor, 80, joined a Democrat-organised event on Tuesday outside the New York court where Trump was on trial for falsifying business records to cover up an affair before the 2016 presidential election.

Standing by Manhattan Criminal Court, De Niro tore into the Republican - calling him a “monster” - and argued with Trump supporters who he called “gangsters”.

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) decided to rescind an offer to award De Niro with the Leadership Foundation’s Service to America Award, which he was set to receive on Tuesday.

A spokesperson said the event at which the actor would have received the prize “is proudly bipartisan, uniting those from across the political spectrum to celebrate the impactful work of local broadcasters and our partners”.

They added: "While we strongly support the right of every American to exercise free speech and participate in civic engagement, it is clear that Mr De Niro’s recent high-profile activities will create a distraction from the philanthropic work that we were hoping to recognize.

“To maintain the focus on service of the award winners, Mr. De Niro will no longer be attending the event.”

    • Audrey0nne
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      5 months ago

      That’s the real story. The general public won’t hear about most lobby groups until they make the news because lobby groups are not in business with the general public.

  • Annoyed_🦀 @monyet.cc
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    5 months ago

    I’d thought “Bipartisan” mean “we accept people from both side and we literally couldn’t care” and not “woah mate you can’t say something that would hurt the other side”, and “uniting people across the political spectrum” mean “let’s separate art and politics for this award” and not “you’re not allow to publicly said something politically charged outside of the event”.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukOPM
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      5 months ago

      Yeah, they’re statement is highly suspect, like anyone going “there are bad people on both sides”, and I’d be very interested to see where their funding comes from and who sits on their board because “actor says something political” is hardly uncommon but their reaction is weird.

  • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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    A spokesperson said the event at which the actor would have received the prize “is proudly bipartisan, uniting those from across the political spectrum to celebrate the impactful work of local broadcasters and our partners”.

    Sounds like some shit he didn’t really want anyway. Fuck being proudly bipartisan, be anti-fascist.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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      5 months ago

      NAB: proudly bipartisan

      DeNiro: Cool. Here’s where I am on the political spectrum.

      NAB: Well I didn’t mean like bipartisan. I meant more like, the-acceptable-viewpoint-or-else-silence bipartisan.

    • Skeezix@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      There’s no effort more bipartisan than being vocally against the orange shitburger.

    • ddh@lemmy.sdf.org
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      5 months ago

      The side he picked was America, so he’s obviously ineligible for the Service to America award.

  • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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    5 months ago

    Oh no! How will his career survive, he’ll never be taken seriously as an actor without the opportunity to win this prestigious award I’ve never heard of.

    • Enkrod@feddit.de
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      5 months ago

      He’s gonna sit between his two Oscars and his Golden Globe and cry about it.

      • z00s@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        He will forever be known as that guy who didn’t get the something something award.

        His legacy is ruined. RUINED I TELL YOU

  • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
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    5 months ago

    Rescinding an award named “Service to America” for calling out a wanna be dictator is rich. De Niro should get a second one for this alone.

  • Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Sounds like a he dodged a conman’s award show there.

    Edit: After looking this backward and moribund group up I can say with certainty their opinions of anything hardly matters. What a useless thing to have in our modern age. All they do is try to keep broadcasting in the past.

  • Waldowal@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    At least we can look forward to Trump making fun of Dustin Hoffman for being denied the award.

    • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
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      5 months ago

      “That’s right, you see this? This washed up actor Danny Devideo called me a monster. Now he’s making 99¢ movies. He lot his award for defimating the greatest president ever. All because of the greatest witch hunt. Even mother terese would be convicted!”

  • Arghblarg@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    I’m sure he’ll wear this as a badge of honour, so that’s a backfire for sure.