Actor Robert De Niro co-founded the Tribeca Festival in 2002 following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with producer Jane Rosenthal and real estate investor Craig Hatkoff, creating a cultural event designed to revitalize lower Manhattan and reunite communities through film. On June 3, 2026, that founding mission became the framework for his latest criticism of President Donald Trump.
Speaking to a packed crowd at the Beacon Theatre during the festival’s opening night, the 82-year-old Oscar winner denounced “monstrous leaders” who, in his words, “are trying to force us apart for their own immoral, cruel and corrupt purposes.” He then paused deliberately before delivering the kicker: “You know who I’m talking about.” The audience understood immediately, despite Trump’s name never passing De Niro’s lips.
The evening featured the premiere of musician and filmmaker Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s documentary on Earth, Wind & Fire, followed by a live performance from the legendary band before a sold-out house. But De Niro’s opening remarks set a political tone that underscored his belief that cultural institutions must stand against forces seeking to divide Americans.
The Festival’s Founding Mission
Producer Jane Rosenthal reflected on the festival’s unexpected longevity during her own opening-night address. “I only thought we were doing this once to bring people back to lower Manhattan, and I can’t believe 25 years later we’re still standing here,” she said. De Niro framed his critique of the president through that original vision, contrasting the festival’s goal to “pull people together” with leadership that he believes actively tears the nation apart.
Now in its 25th year, the festival operates across multiple venues throughout New York City. For De Niro, the June 3 speech represented a continuation of his belief that the arts serve as a bulwark against what he views as an administration openly hostile to creative expression and democratic values.
A Long History of Political Broadsides
The 47th president and the “Raging Bull” star have waged a public feud spanning nearly a decade. One month before the 2016 election, De Niro said he wanted to punch Trump in the face. In January 2018, while introducing Meryl Streep at the National Board of Review’s annual awards gala, he delivered a profanity-laced attack on the president, calling him a “*** fool” and a “***-off-in-chief.” During a May 2017 press event for “The Wizard of Lies,” he declared that “America is being run by a mad man” and likened Trump to “Colonel Sanders’ fried chicken.”
On April 18, 2018, at a Tribeca Film Festival lunch for journalists, De Niro delivered one of his most memorable lines, telling reporters their jobs were hard enough “without being attacked by our low-life-in-chief.” He praised the press as “our saviors” and called on arts organizations to “show that we’re open to ideas different than ours” — language that resurfaced in his June 3 remarks.
Over the years, De Niro has called Trump an “existential threat to our freedoms and security,” a “philistine president,” a “monster” and a “tyrant.” Trump, for his part, has fired back repeatedly on social media with escalating vitriol. The actor appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” just days before the Tribeca event and managed to slip in another jab at the president, signaling no intention of backing down during Trump’s second term.
From Cannes to Tribeca
De Niro’s June 3 speech echoed themes from his most prominent international rebuke of Trump, delivered on May 13, 2025, at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. Accepting an honorary Palme d’Or from actor Leonardo DiCaprio inside the Grand Lumière theater, De Niro labeled Trump “America’s Philistine president” and condemned his decision to appoint himself head of the Kennedy Center and to impose a 100 percent tariff on films produced outside the United States.
“In my country, we are fighting like hell for the democracy we once took for granted,” he told the Cannes audience. “That affects all of us here, because art is the crucible that brings people together, like tonight. Art looks for truth. Art embraces diversity. That’s why art is a threat. That’s why we are a threat to autocrats and fascists.”
He closed that speech with a call to “organize, to protest, and when there are elections, vote.” The ceremony, hosted by French actor Laurent Lafitte, honored politically engaged screen legends including James Stewart, Jean Gabin, Josephine Baker, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Gere, Isabelle Adjani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Rock Hudson and Adèle Haenel, and paid tribute to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A Familiar Feud Reignited
The two have exchanged barbs throughout Trump’s first term and into his second, and De Niro, now well into his ninth decade, has demonstrated no willingness to retreat.
De Niro’s anti-Trump activism did not stop at the Beacon Theatre. On June 14, 2026, he appeared at “Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment” at The Town Hall in New York City, an event organized by actress and activist Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment that was deliberately scheduled to counter President Trump’s UFC event at the White House. Speaking to the crowd, De Niro declared he could no longer love his country under its current leadership. “I hate to say it, but loving our country is starting to sound like an abused spouse saying they love their abuser,” he said. “I can’t love a country that’s led by a racist, misogynist, xenophobic tyrant.” He closed with an expression of longing rather than despair: “I want to love my country again.”
The actor’s message was unmistakable: the cultural institutions he helped build will continue to serve as opposition to an administration he sees as fundamentally opposed to the values of art and democracy. And while he never spoke the president’s name aloud, everyone watching knew precisely who was meant to hear it.