Robert De Niro took the stage at a celebrity-packed protest concert in New York City on Sunday and told the crowd he cannot love a country led by Donald Trump. The 82-year-old actor called the president a "racist, misogynist, xenophobic tyrant" and compared the nation to "an abused spouse" during remarks at Town Hall in Manhattan.
The event, called Rise Up, Sing Out, was organized by the Committee for the First Amendment, a group originally founded in 1947 and recently revived by Jane Fonda. It drew a roster of Hollywood names including Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Tessa Thompson, Lily Gladstone, and MSNBC's Joy Reid. Partner organizations included No Kings and Indivisible.
De Niro's speech was the marquee moment, and it followed a now-familiar pattern. As the Daily Mail reported, the actor ran through a litany of grievances against the president, his administration, and Congress, much of it recycled from a similar appearance in February at the State of the Swamp summit in Washington, D.C., a fact noted by Mediaite.
De Niro opened by acknowledging the country's history of welcoming his own immigrant ancestors:
"The United States of America welcomed my immigrant ancestors. It gave me, my family, and my fellow citizens such rich opportunities and extraordinary freedoms."
He then pivoted sharply, declaring that the nation is no longer lovable under its current leadership:
"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."
From there, the actor ticked through a series of accusations, that the country "starts stupid and inhumane wars," "takes healthcare away from millions of people," "sends out masked militias to shoot citizens in the streets, torture our neighbors, and separate families," and is "led by a racist, misogynist, xenophobic tyrant." None of these claims were accompanied by specific evidence in his remarks. They landed as applause lines, not arguments.
He was blunt about his target. "And let me just say it," De Niro told the crowd. "I can't love the country that's led by Donald Trump. And a sycophant Congress."
De Niro also claimed that Trump recently said, "I don't care about Americans' financial situation, not even a little bit." He did not provide the date or context of the alleged remark, but used it as a setup for his own punchline: "I say, 'Shut the f*** up.'"
This is not a man grappling with a policy disagreement. This is a man who has made opposing the president a second career, from the Tribeca Festival stage to protest rallies to late-night television.
Fonda, who hosted the event, wore a white shirt reading "resist" with crimson slacks. She revived the Committee for the First Amendment in response to Trump's election to a second term, framing the effort as a continuation of the group's original mission against the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings of the late 1940s.
The original committee was founded in 1947 by director John Huston, director William Wyler, screenwriter Phillip Dunne, and actress Myrna Loy. Fonda's father, Henry Fonda, was among its members. The committee eventually "went fallow," as members tried to avoid being blacklisted by film studios.
The comparison between 1947 Hollywood and 2025 Hollywood is rich, though perhaps not in the way Fonda intends. The original committee members risked their livelihoods. Today's celebrity protesters face no professional consequences whatsoever for opposing the sitting president. The applause is guaranteed. The risk is zero.
Julia Roberts, 58, also spoke at the event. She wore a T-shirt featuring Fonda's name and visage styled after Shepard Fairey's Obama "Hope" poster, paired with a gray seersucker sport coat. The Washington Examiner reported Roberts told the audience to "breathe in all that hope" and "breathe out all that fear."
"We all feel like, 'I can't turn the news on, I don't want to hear it.' But we have to hear it; we have to face it. But if we keep inhaling and exhaling, we will prevail."
Deep breathing as political strategy. That was the level of specificity on offer.
Children's entertainer and YouTube star Ms. Rachel performed on stage with the Peace Poets. Comedian Ayo Edebiri, star of The Bear, appeared in a black blazer and baseball cap. Patti Smith was pictured smiling and raising her fist. Fonda's protest concert was, by all appearances, a well-attended gathering of like-minded celebrities congratulating one another on their courage.
While Hollywood staged its protest concert at Town Hall, Trump celebrated his 80th birthday at the White House with the Freedom 250 UFC match on the South Lawn. The split screen was hard to miss: one venue featured actors reciting grievances; the other featured the president hosting a raucous sporting event at the people's house.
De Niro seemed aware of the comparison. The Washington Examiner reported that he opened with a jab: "Welcome to all of you who couldn't get tickets to the White House cage fight."
By Monday, Trump was in Evian-Les-Bains, France, pictured with Charles Kushner, conducting the business of the presidency abroad while his Hollywood critics were still processing their Sunday night feelings.
The juxtaposition tells a story that no amount of celebrity speechifying can rewrite. Trump governs. His opponents perform.
De Niro's Sunday remarks were not a one-off. Mediaite noted the speech closely resembled his February address at the State of the Swamp summit in Washington, D.C. Before that, he used Stephen Colbert's farewell show alongside Bruce Springsteen to take another shot at the president.
The actor has settled into a fixed routine: appear at a friendly venue, denounce Trump in the harshest available language, receive standing applause, and leave. No policy alternative is offered. No constructive vision is advanced. No accountability for the claims is expected or demanded.
He told the Sunday crowd: "When I hear something I don't like, I use my own free speech to respond." Fair enough. Free speech protects De Niro's right to say whatever he wants, and no one is suggesting otherwise. But free speech is not the same as serious speech. Calling the president a tyrant from a Manhattan stage, surrounded by sympathetic celebrities and a friendly audience, is not brave. It is comfortable.
De Niro closed by saying he wants to love his country again. "I want my country back," he said. "That's why I stand with the committee for the First Amendment. And you, all of you."
The country he wants back is the one that elected Trump twice. The voters who sent Trump to the White House are the same ones De Niro's speech treats as either invisible or complicit. That disconnect, between Hollywood's self-image and the electorate's actual choices, is the real story the Rise Up, Sing Out concert told, whether its organizers realize it or not.
The broader pattern of Hollywood figures using their platforms to lecture the public on politics has not exactly produced a winning record for the left. Celebrity endorsements saturated the 2024 campaign. The result was a second Trump term.
Missing from De Niro's speech, and from the concert generally, was any engagement with the reasons tens of millions of Americans voted for Trump. No mention of the border. No mention of inflation. No mention of crime. No mention of the economic pressures that shaped the 2024 election.
Instead, the audience got sweeping accusations, "masked militias," wars that kill "thousands of innocents," healthcare stripped from "millions", delivered without sourcing, context, or specificity. De Niro presented these as self-evident truths. They are, in fact, contested political claims. Treating them as settled fact is not courage. It is the luxury of performing for a crowd that already agrees with you.
The Committee for the First Amendment's original members faced real professional danger. Studio blacklists ended careers. The revived committee's members face nothing of the sort. In 2025, opposing Trump from a stage in Manhattan is the safest act in show business.
De Niro can say what he likes. But the country he claims to have lost didn't go anywhere. It just stopped listening to people who confuse applause for argument.
