De Niro says Trump's America like a dumb-ass comedy..commencement speech
It’s a tough time to be a college graduate. Young adults are squandering their McMansion down payments on avocado toast, and this year’s song of the summer will likely be “Despacito.” And now commencement speeches have taken center stage as a battleground for our increasingly polarized political climate. Over the weekend, for instance, pundits considered the meaning of students protesting and walking out of appearances by, say, Vice President Mike Pence, whose commencement speech at Notre Dame inspired a walk-out. And on the other side of the spectrum, there was Robert De Niro, who employed a movie analogy to express his discontent with the path our nation has chosen.
“In movie terms,” De Niro said at Brown University’s commencement ceremony on Sunday, America used to be “an inspiring, uplifting drama.” But now? The two-time Oscar winner said America has become “a tragic dumb-ass comedy.” He gave the rising class a charge: “work to stop the insanity” and try to make the world a better place. Good luck, grads!
This was not the first time De Niro had spoken out about Trump and his administration. Before the presidential election, the actor said he’d like to punch the Republican nominee in the face. Just after Donald Trump’s election, De Niro mourned the loss of that opportunity on Jimmy Kimmel Live. And then there was the time De Niro used his Chaplin Award acceptance speech to critique the president's “hostility toward art.”
