• Robert De Niro receives award for truth in cinema
  • The actor turns his acceptance speech political
  • De Niro criticizes specific American politician

Robert De Niro is taking politicians to task for the dangerous falsehoods they have perpetuated! As Deadline reports, the legendary actor received a special award at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and it prompted him to address the problem of misinformation within the world of politics.

De Niro calls politician out for spreading "big untruths"

De Niro was on stage accepting the Cinéma Verité Award when he made his comments. "I wish verité was having a renaissance too," he remarked after mentioning how moviegoers are making a return to cinemas. Seeing as "Cinéma verité" is a French phrase that translates to "truth cinema," the actor was essentially expressing his desire for truth to be more prevalent within the world than it is— especially where politics are concerned.

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Robert De Niro speaks onstage during the CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards during CinemaCon 2022 on April 28, 2022.

"We have big untruths, like Ukraine doesn’t exist except as part of Russia, or Trump won the 2020 elections," De Niro went on to say. Then, he directly called out Kevin McCarthy, the U.S. House Minority Leader who made such claims before later retracting them. This isn't the first time De Niro has gotten political, as the actor previously referred to former U.S. president Donald Trump as a "crazy relative" while talking about raising biracial kids.

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De Niro's speech wasn't the only memorable thing to happen during this year's CinemaCon. The annual event is known to showcase upcoming cinematic releases with trailers and presentations, which certainly makes it an exciting time for movie lovers. However, this year's event also made headlines for a completely unexpected incident, as Olivia Wilde was presenting on stage only to find herself getting served with court papers!