Robert De Niro Attacks Trump Again: ‘Down With This Motherf**ker'
Another predictable Hollywood award ceremony bashing Trump
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Robert De Niro has taken another opportunity at a star-studded Hollywood award ceremony to attack President Donald Trump.
While De Niro presented Billy Crystal with the Friars Club’s entertainment icon award on Monday night in New York City, the star first shouted, “F— Crystal!” as a wink to his condemnation of Trump at the Tony Awards earlier this year.
“I just get so upset with that jerkoff in the White House,” he said, drawing boos from the crowd. “Boo is right! Down with this motherf—er!”
Though the “Raging Bull” star jokingly suggested Crystal should be president instead “We’ve got a dangerous buffoon-in-chief. What we need is a heroic comedian-in-chief.”
“As much as we could use you in the never-been-more-white White House, I think it’s best to keep you right where you are — making us laugh and entertaining us like no one else,” he said.
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Earlier this year, while De Nero introduced Meryl Streep at the National Board of Review Annual Awards Gala in New York, the Oscar-winning star entered into an anti-Trump meltdown, calling the president a "f**king fool."
According to Variety: Crystal, for his part, seemed open to using those comic skills in a political context.
He was the subject of one of the Friars Club’s legendary (and infamously brutal) roasts in 1992. Asked who he would target if he could return the favor, his answer was simple.
“Gee,” he said, “I think he’s president.”
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While politics proved to be a good punching bag last night, the lavish gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom was dominated by stories from Crystal and his class of comics’ early days as well as a celebration of the next generation.
Crystal’s longtime collaborator, Alan Zweibel, who was named 2018’s friar of the year, described selling jokes for $7 at the Friars Club bar when he was just out of college — and Crystal himself had plenty to say about how they got their start together.
“We’d try to get on [at Catch a Rising Star] at one o’clock in the morning sometimes, for six or seven people who were making out — you’d feel like you were at a drive-in movie,” Crystal said, laughing.
“And you’d try to get better.”
After reflecting on his own experience coming up as a young comedian, Crystal paid tribute to the new guard, namely Josh Gad and Ben Schwartz.
On the red carpet earlier in the evening, Schwartz took the opportunity to raise awareness about the wildfires currently ravaging Los Angeles.
He recently asked his followers on Twitter for ways to help and has donated to several of the organizations they recommended.
“I found a bunch of numbers you can call to help, and even a foundation that helps the fire department itself — it’s kind of wonderful to find a way to use social media in this nice way where everyone’s coming together,” he told Variety.
“It’s terrifying, and the farther you are away from it, the less real it feels, but it’s very real and very scary.”
Gad echoed Schwartz’s call to action.
“California needs everybody’s help right now. What we’re seeing is so unbelievably frightening, and the fact that it keeps happening over and over again is a testament to the fact that we’re living in really challenging times, with global warming being a key factor. I hope that people can come together and send donations, send money, and just volunteer to help,” he said.
“The amount of people who’ve come out of the woodwork to help rescue cats, dogs, horses, has been unbelievably emotional for me to watch, but your heart breaks — I’ve had so many friends who’ve had to evacuate. They don’t know the status of their homes. And it’s devastating.”
The loss of Stan Lee was also on Gad’s mind.
“I have never been a part of the Marvel universe,” he said, laughing.
“Although I’d love to! But [my relationship to him] is that of a true fan. The sheer legacy that he leaves behind, and the number of iconic characters that he is responsible for — obviously alongside Jack Kirby — it’s amazing to see that one man could create so many iconic characters that I know will live long beyond his 95 years on Earth.”
Until they met and collaborated on “The Comedians” in 2015, Gad had a similar view of Crystal.
“I grew up watching and admiring the hell out of this man,” he said.
