Actor Robert De Niro said Sunday that he can’t love a country that’s led by President Donald Trump during a speech at a “Rise Up, Sing Out” event in New York City, arguing that loving the U.S. at the moment was comparable to an abused spouse saying they “love their abuser.”
De Niro explained during his remarks that he signed a letter protesting late-night host Jimmy Kimmel being taken off the air in September, and said he took issue with one of the lines in the letter that said, “We love our country regardless of political affiliation.”
“The phrase, ‘We all love our country,’ stuck in my throat,” he told the crowd at the event. “Because our country isn’t so lovable right now. I hate to say it, but loving our country is starting to sound like an abused spouse saying they love their abuser.”
“I can’t love a country that starts stupid and inhumane wars, killing thousands of innocents and indirectly causing the deaths and suffering of millions more,” De Niro continued. “I can’t love a country that takes healthcare away from millions of people and uses that money to enrich their pals in the Trump-Epstein class.”
The liberal actor then said he couldn’t love the U.S. while it is being led by Trump.
“I can’t love a country that sends out masked militias to shoot citizens in the streets, torture our neighbors, and separate families,” he added. “I can’t love a country that’s led by a racist, misogynist, xenophobic tyrant. And let me just say it: I can’t love the country that’s led by Donald Trump and his sycophant Congress.”
“Robert DeNiro is a washed-up has-been who hasn’t been relevant in 30 years,” White House spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Now, he just beclowns himself by spewing hate speech and inciting violence against others. Instead of embarrassing himself every time he speaks, he should seek immediate treatment for a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
De Niro, a frequent critic of the president, got teary-eyed during an interview with MS NOW host Nicolle Wallace in February as he expressed worry over the fate of America under Trump, calling on people to resist his administration.
SUNNY HOSTIN BREAKS WITH ‘THE VIEW’ CO-HOSTS, CALLS AMERICA A ‘FAILED EXPERIMENT’
“People have to resist, resist, resist, resist, resist. That’s the only way. There’s no magic. There’s no nothing — people are not going to go away, even if Trump dies for some reason by having an illness or something,” he warned. “Parts of that movement are still there, and that’s the scary part. It has to be neutralized by the people.”
Wallace followed by recalling an Academy Award speech he gave in 1981, when he thanked the people he worked with, saying he had continually lifted people up around him. When she asked him why he emphasized lifting people up around him so much, he went right back to politics.
“You have to,” he said, starting to cry. “You have to lift people up. You have to bring them together. Period. You can’t divide people. You can’t win that way. It’s a no-win situation.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
De Niro rejected the notion that he had “Trump Derangement Syndrome” during an interview with Fox News Digital in April.
When asked about such criticism, De Niro called it “nonsense.”
“People don’t like him for a reason,” De Niro shot back. “All the terrible things he’s done. If he did nice things, then he could have, he had the chance — he became president — to do nice things, not hateful, retribution, not just, outright mean things. If he did nice things, people would love him. But he’s got a problem. He’s damaged.”
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.