Accepting a lifetime achievement award during Sunday’s annual Screen Actors Guild awards, actor Actor Robert De Niro took a veiled jab at US President Donald Trump.
The two-time Academy Award winner and star of Oscar-nominated mob film ‘The Irishman’, made his comments never once mentioning Trump by name, as the president faces a Senate trial this week on impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Trump was at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention and Trade Show in Austin, Texas, earlier in the day.
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Robert De Niro accepts the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award onstage during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Sunday. During his acceptance speech, he took a veiled jab at President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump fist pumps while speaking at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention and Trade Show in Austin, Texas, Sunday
Stepping onto the stage to a rousing standing ovation and cheers at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday evening, De Niro said, ‘there´s right, and there´s wrong and there’s common sense, and there´s abuse of power, and as a citizen I have as much right as anyone else … to voice my opinion.’
‘And if I have a bigger voice because of my situation, I´m going to use it whenever I see a blatant abuse of power. And that´s all I´m going say about that tonight,’ the actor added.
He then went on to thank his ‘comrades in arms’ for bestowing the life achievement honor, presented by the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Actors. An almost star-struck Leonardo DiCaprio had presented the award to De Niro.
Although known for his often-taciturn demeanor in public appearances while strictly guarding his private life, De Niro has emerged as one of Trump’s most vocal critics outside of political circles.
In 2018, he launched an expletive-laden attack on the president on live television as a presenter on stage of the Tony Awards.
Trump responded on Twitter by calling De Niro ‘a very low-key individual’.
President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base on Sunday, returning from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. He previously responded to a 2018 De Niro criticism by saying he was ‘a very low-key individual’
A versatile actor with more than 100 films to his credit, the 76-year-old De Niro’s biggest movies include dramas like ‘The Deer Hunter,’ ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘The Godfather: Part II’.
He is also known for starring in comedies such as ‘Meet the Parents’ and ‘Silver Linings Playbook’.
A frequent collaborator with his Irishman director, Martin Scorsese, De Niro built his career with haunting portrayals of loners and tough guys.
He played a deranged ex-convict in ‘Cape Fear’, a disturbed vigilante in ‘Taxi Driver’, a disillusioned Vietnam War veteran in ‘Deer Hunter’, and a ruthless gangster in ‘Goodfellas,’ all directed by Scorsese, whom he considers a close friend.
De Niro also is co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, established to help revitalize lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks that reduced the World Trade Center to ruins.
Robert De Niro accepted the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award from Leonardo DiCapri onstage during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday
Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep attend the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on Sunday in Los Angeles
De Niro has been overlooked this awards season for his acting turn as hitman Frank Sheeran in the mob film ‘The Irishman’, but recouped as one of the producers of the movie when it received an Oscar nomination for best picture
The method actor and perfectionist attended the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop and, as well as trained under Lee Strasberg, the acclaimed actor and director. De Niro quickly earned a reputation for intense preparation.
He learned to speak a Sicilian dialect to play the young mobster Vito Corleone in ‘The Godfather: Part II,’ a role that earned him his first Oscar in 1975. And he famously gained 60 pounds, or 27 kilos, for his second Oscar-winning performance as boxing great Jake LaMotta in 1980’s ‘Raging Bull’.
He also found success playing his hard-bitten screen image for laughs, in such comedic roles as an insecure mob boss in ‘Analyze This’ and a retired CIA operative in ‘Meet the Fockers’.
De Niro has been largely overlooked this awards season for his acting turn as hitman Frank Sheeran in The Irishman, but recouped as one of the producers of the film, when it received an Oscar nomination for best picture.
De Niro joins previous SAG lifetime recipients including Alan Alda, Elizabeth Taylor, Morgan Freeman, Clint Eastwood and Debbie Reynolds.
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De Niro takes shot at Trump as he accepts SAG lifetime award,
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