Acknowledging the edit, a frustrated De Niro stated: “I’m going to go back. I’m sorry. Okay there was a mistake in this. I’ll keep going. Just keep scrolling.
“Filmmakers on the other hand strive — this is where I came in and I saw that they edited all that.”
Speaking at the Gotham Awards via Variety, he continued: “The beginning of my speech was edited, cut out, and I didn’t know about it. And I want to read it.
“History isn’t history anymore. Truth is not truth. Even facts are being replaced by alternative facts and driven by conspiracy theories and ugliness.”
In his speech, the actor also referenced a racist statement from a 1971 Playboy interview with John Wayne.
“The Duke, John Wayne, famously said of Native Americans, ‘I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.’
“Lying has become just another tool in the charlatan’s arsenal. The former President lied to us more than 30,000 times during his four years in office.
“And he’s keeping up the pace in his current campaign of retribution. But in all his lies, he can’t hide his soul.
”He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows disrespect by, for example, using Pocahontas as a slur.”
As he closed, De Niro slammed the Gotham Awards and the film’s producer Apple TV+ which he seemingly blamed for cutting part of his remarks out.
De Niro said: “But I don’t really feel like thanking them at all for what they did.”
The star was joined on stage by DiCaprio, other Native American actors and members of the Osage Nation who consulted on the making of the film.