During his appearance on Monday’s episode of the “Best People” podcast, Oscar winner Robert De Niro admitted to MS NOW anchor Nicolle Wallace that he is “concerned” about the billionaires and tech CEOs that have capitulated to President Trump over the past year.
While De Niro was talking about the importance of speaking out publicly against Trump, Wallace asked the actor if he thinks there are some people in Hollywood who are experiencing a “Blacklist kind of fear” of retribution right now.
“That might be some of it,” De Niro acknowledged, before calling out billionaires like Jeff Bezos. “What I am more concerned about [are] the people who control those companies, the big tech bros who ought to know better.”
“Jeff Bezos just cut a third of the Washington Post,” De Niro noted, referencing the publication’s recent wave of sweeping layoffs. De Niro told Wallace he believes Bezos has become more controlling of the Post because he is “afraid” of Trump but asked, “What more does he need? The only thing he needs is integrity, and he lost his integrity by doing that.”
“You’ve got to stand up. You have the money to fight the government for decades. You have the money to drag it all out, do everything. But what did you do? What did you do? For what? What even came from it?” De Niro continued. “I don’t know. I don’t understand it.”
You can watch De Niro’s full “Best People” interview yourself below.
Wallace noted that Trump can be extremely “spiteful” and asked De Niro if he is afraid at all of some of that spite coming his way. “I can’t afford to be afraid. Of course you have anxiety. You’re afraid. But you’ve got to get out. You’ve got to defy this. You cannot allow them to intimidate you,” De Niro responded. “They take your lunch money on a Monday. Don’t think they’re not going to take it on a Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday and more. The bully in the schoolyard.”
“I want my country back,” the actor said. “It’s time for us who’ve taken this country for granted to stand up and get rid of this guy. When you talk about the stakes of the election, it’s clear, it’s plain, the evidence is before our eyes.” When he was asked if there are any Democrats he believes are good at pushing back publicly against Trump, he specifically praised both California Governor Gavin Newsom and Wisconsin Congressman Jason Crow.
The actor, who won Oscars for his performances in “Raging Bull” and “The Godfather Part II,” also pushed back on his image as a Hollywood tough guy. “Listen, I’m not a tough guy,” De Niro said. “I’ve played them, but somebody asked me once, I don’t know, Stephen Colbert years ago, he [called me] a ‘tough guy.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not a tough guy. I’m a concerned citizen. Period.’”
“I do see what we’re up against, and it makes me so angry. I don’t see how we can ignore it,” the actor concluded. “There’s no easy way around this. It takes a determination and knowing that you have no choice but to go forward. If you don’t go forward, it’s over.”
