Robert De Niro’s Invite To NAB Event Rescinded After Speech Outside Trump Trial

The National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation has rescinded an invitation to Robert De Niro to attend its Celebration of Service to America Awards next week after the Oscar-winning actor’s fiery anti-Trump remarks outside the former president’s criminal trial in Manhattan Tuesday. De Niro had been invited to the press conference by Joe Biden‘s presidential campaign.

At the NAB event, De Niro was to receive the organization’s 2024 Service of Leadership Award, the NABLF’s highest individual honor in recognition of charitable work and public service.

“The Celebration of Service to America Awards is dedicated to honoring the vital local journalism and public service that local radio and television stations provide to their communities,” the NAB said in a statement provided to Deadline. This event is proudly bipartisan, uniting those from across the political spectrum to celebrate the impactful work of local broadcasters and our partners.”

The statement continued: “While we strongly support the right of every American to exercise free speech and participate in civic engagement, it is clear that Mr. De Niro’s recent high-profile activities will create a distraction from the philanthropic work that we were hoping to recognize. To maintain the focus on service of the award winners, Mr. De Niro will no longer be attending the event.”

In response, in a statement to The Hill, De Niro said “I support the work of the NAB Leadership Foundation and would like to express my appreciation and gratitude for what the Foundation has done and will continue to do for the good of us all, and I wish them well for their continued good work.”

De Niro, who recently narrated a Biden campaign ad, warned of Trump’s potential return to the White House, calling him a “tyrant.”

“Now he’s promising to use our own military to attack U.S. citizens,” De Niro said. “That’s the tyrant, that is the tyrant he is telling us he will be, and believe me, he means it.”

Trump was convicted Thursday on 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a conspiracy to keep a potential sex scandal from derailing his first presidential campaign. 

De Niro’s response to the verdict? “Justice was served.”