Robert De Niro became visibly emotional as fellow actor Amy Poehler thanked him for his activism — including his vocal, vehement criticism of Donald Trump and his administration, which itself has drawn the president’s fury — during the latest episode of her “Good Hang” podcast.
Poehler wrapped up her interview with the Oscar-winning actor by thanking him “for doing what you do and speaking out in the way that you do about where we are in the world.”
Watch the full interview on YouTube.
“There’s a lot of people that are asked to speak truth to power, and they’re usually members of the margins,” she said. “There are people that are young and don’t really have as much currency or footing as other people. It’s often people of color. It’s often women.”
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“The best way I can describe it is, it’s like if someone’s giving a terrible speech at a wedding and they’re ruining the wedding, and the wedding is America, and there’s another adult who says, like, ‘We don’t talk like that. That’s not how you’re supposed to treat people. This is insane,’” Poehler continued.
“It makes everybody feel very safe, and so, I’ve seen you do it over and over again, and I really appreciate it,” she concluded.
A visibly moved De Niro, his voice shaking, thanked Poehler for her comments.
“Yeah, it means a lot to a lot of people because you’re standing up for a lot of people who don’t have the power to do that. So, thank you, Bob. And thanks for doing it over and over again,” she replied.
Poehler then lightened the mood, joking, “I can’t believe I just made you cry. I feel incredible right now,” before passing him some tissues.
She quickly returned to her point, saying:
“But it is true, there’s not a lot of men in your position who do that, white men of a certain age who frankly have a ton of power and don’t use that responsibility in a way that they could, so thank you.”
After regaining his composure, De Niro explained why he continues to speak out: “It’s so upsetting to see what’s happening in this country, and it’s so crazy.”
He added, “In a way, that’s better that it’s so blatant because this will happen again. This guy [Donald Trump] will influence people, and they’ll come up, and they’ll say, ‘Well, I can do it this way or that way.’ And we have to always be on guard with what’s happening now.”
Watch from the 1:04:00 mark on YouTube.