Robert De Niro, whose relentless and profane public rants about President Trump have utterly overshadowed his acting career, took the opportunity to unload another one while accepting a lifetime achievement award at the SAG-AFTRA Awards on Sunday.
“There’s right and there’s wrong, and there’s common sense and there’s abuse of power,” De Niro began.
“As a citizen, I have as much right as anybody — an actor, an athlete, a musician, anybody else — to voice my opinion,” the actor continued. “And if I have a bigger voice because of my situation, I’m gonna use it whenever I see a blatant abuse of power. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that tonight.”
Yes, he has the same right as any other citizen. But there are two things celebrities don’t understand about that right: 1) having a megaphone doesn’t grant you any special political or moral insight or expertise, and 2) Americans are fed up with celebrity political lectures. At least De Niro restrained himself from spewing profanity this time.