Robert De Niro has spoken to The Guardian about how he worries for the LGBT+ community revealing that one of his four sons is gay.
The actor said that he and his son discuss the ‘worries’ they share about being discriminated against in the current political climate.
De Niro said: “Yeah, I worry, and one of my kids is gay, and he worries about being treated a certain way. We talk about it.”
Calling Trump a “white supremacist” in the interview, De Niro furthermore added: “When you see someone like [Trump] becoming president, I thought, well, OK, let’s see what he does – maybe he’ll change. But he just got worse.
“It showed me that he is a real racist. I thought maybe as a New Yorker he understands the diversity in the city but he’s as bad as I thought he was before – and much worse.”
Asked if he considers Trump a facist, De Niro said: “I guess that’s what it leads to. If he had his way, we’d wind up in a very bad state in this country. I mean, the way I understand it, they laughed at Hitler. They all look funny. Hitler looked funny, Mussolini looked funny and other dictators and despots look funny.”
The two-time Academy Award-winning actor is a longtime ally to the LGBT+ community.
In 2016, De Niro received GLAAD’s Excellence in Media Award, which is presented to media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equality and acceptance of LGBT+ people.
He shared with audiences the story of his gay father in the 2014 HBO documentary Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr. In it, De Niro movingly recounted his father’s struggle with self-acceptance, not living openly until the latter part of his life.
In addition to his outspoken support of marriage equality, De Niro has brought LGBT+ storylines to broader audiences. In 2002, he co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival, which has made LGBT+ inclusion a hallmark of its annual film line-up.
He produced and starred in the 1999 film Flawless, which told the story of a man and his friendship with a transgender woman. In 2007, De Niro portrayed an openly gay character in Stardust.
© 2019 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
Support GCN
GCN has been a vital, free-of-charge information service for Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community since 1988.
During this global COVID pandemic, we like many other organisations have been impacted greatly in the way we can do business and produce. This means a temporary pause to our print publication and live events and so now more than ever we need your help to continue providing this community resource digitally.
GCN is a registered charity with a not-for-profit business model and we need your support. If you value having an independent LGBTQ+ media in Ireland, you can help from as little as €1.99 per month. Support Ireland’s free, independent LGBTQ+ media.
comments. Please sign in to comment.