Variety reports that De Niro’s accusations regarding censorship have been denied by “a source close to the film,” who instead claims the incident was a miscommunication. The insider alleges that multiple versions of the speech had been created, and that both Apple and the filmmakers were unaware that De Niro had not approved the final draft. We have reached out to Apple and the Gotham Film & Media Institute to clarify the situation.
I can’t rule out a dumb employee trying to make a unilateral change to a speech almost nobody would have known about otherwise, but a miscommunication over multiple drafts certainly strikes me as highly plausible, and I can also understand why the filmmakers would have been encouraging a draft that was more focused on the film than tangential contemporary political issues.
Apple always have these convenient excuses in their back pockets. Makes much more sense to me that DeNiro was telling the truth, especially given recent events.
Makes much more sense to me that DeNiro was telling the truth
Nobody ever said he was lying. He made a statement, live, based on his current understanding of the situation. Later, someone else offered a perfectly plausible explanation.
it’s too much of a coincidence that the removed parts were the most controversial ones. that’s a pretty weird change for allegedly an “older draft version”.
additionally, it’s not the first time Apple has removed controversial topics in a short period of time. I might not agree with DeNiro at all, but I’m convinced that those parts of the script were removed purposefully by Apple.
Regardless of whose idea it was to cut the speech, the fact remains that someone made a censored draft, the organizers received it along with the full speech, and the censored version ended on the prompter without De Niro’s consent. Perhaps Apple wasn’t responsible, but then who?
Or a former version of his speech didnt have any politics in it because it was a draft, and he passed it to someone for review on what he had already written.
Then that copy somehow got mistaken for a, if not the, final draft.
I do that when writing. I ask for review on what I have written down, even knowing that I have more to add but just dont know how to start putting to words yet.
I don’t think we can quite say that. Speeches usually have a time limit. It would be perfectly normal to write more than you can actually say and then start cutting back or rewording parts to make it shorter. That’s not “censorship.” If you’re cutting down an acceptance speech, the more off-topic stuff is naturally going to be looked at critically. I’d expect there to be multiple drafts with different portions cut out so it’s not so much as a “full” verses “cut” speech but which version of cuts was the final version.
I don’t buy it. Those decisions always include the actor for obvious reasons.
“Oops! We aCciDeNtLy cut out the part that might cause insurrection supporters to not watch our award show! Aww shucks our mistake increased our ratings.”
“Oops! We aCciDeNtLy cut out the part that might cause insurrection supporters to not watch our award show! Aww shucks our mistake increased our ratings.”
It’s not a televised. It’s an obscure awards show that almost nobody saw.
Apple did not produce or distribute the event. I think they’d be perfectly content with zero viewers. CODA won two Gotham Awards, including Troy Kotsur for best supporting actor. Did Apple talk about it then? No. What about when CODA won big at the Oscars? Apple dedicated two long paragraphs of the press release to talking about the other awards CODA won but the Gotham Awards are so irrelevant that they didn’t even get a single throwaway mention.
I can’t rule out a dumb employee trying to make a unilateral change to a speech almost nobody would have known about otherwise, but a miscommunication over multiple drafts certainly strikes me as highly plausible, and I can also understand why the filmmakers would have been encouraging a draft that was more focused on the film than tangential contemporary political issues.
Apple always have these convenient excuses in their back pockets. Makes much more sense to me that DeNiro was telling the truth, especially given recent events.
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Nobody ever said he was lying. He made a statement, live, based on his current understanding of the situation. Later, someone else offered a perfectly plausible explanation.
What’s plausible or reasonable about independently editing someone else’s speech and not even bothering to make sure they knew about it?
it’s too much of a coincidence that the removed parts were the most controversial ones. that’s a pretty weird change for allegedly an “older draft version”.
additionally, it’s not the first time Apple has removed controversial topics in a short period of time. I might not agree with DeNiro at all, but I’m convinced that those parts of the script were removed purposefully by Apple.
Regardless of whose idea it was to cut the speech, the fact remains that someone made a censored draft, the organizers received it along with the full speech, and the censored version ended on the prompter without De Niro’s consent. Perhaps Apple wasn’t responsible, but then who?
Or a former version of his speech didnt have any politics in it because it was a draft, and he passed it to someone for review on what he had already written.
Then that copy somehow got mistaken for a, if not the, final draft.
I do that when writing. I ask for review on what I have written down, even knowing that I have more to add but just dont know how to start putting to words yet.
I don’t think we can quite say that. Speeches usually have a time limit. It would be perfectly normal to write more than you can actually say and then start cutting back or rewording parts to make it shorter. That’s not “censorship.” If you’re cutting down an acceptance speech, the more off-topic stuff is naturally going to be looked at critically. I’d expect there to be multiple drafts with different portions cut out so it’s not so much as a “full” verses “cut” speech but which version of cuts was the final version.
I don’t buy it. Those decisions always include the actor for obvious reasons.
“Oops! We aCciDeNtLy cut out the part that might cause insurrection supporters to not watch our award show! Aww shucks our mistake increased our ratings.”
It’s not a televised. It’s an obscure awards show that almost nobody saw.
So… the kind of situation where Apple would want more viewers.
Apple did not produce or distribute the event. I think they’d be perfectly content with zero viewers. CODA won two Gotham Awards, including Troy Kotsur for best supporting actor. Did Apple talk about it then? No. What about when CODA won big at the Oscars? Apple dedicated two long paragraphs of the press release to talking about the other awards CODA won but the Gotham Awards are so irrelevant that they didn’t even get a single throwaway mention.