Robert De Niro Just Used a First Amendment Event to Launch a Blistering Attack on Trump, and He Wants the Audience to Join the Fight
‘Our democracy is in peril.’
Robert De Niro just turned a First Amendment celebration into a full-throated battle cry against Donald Trump, and he made sure the audience was ready to fight alongside him. According to Reality Tea, the two-time Oscar winner took the stage at New York City’s The Town Hall on June 14, 2026, for the Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment event. He didn’t just criticize Trump – he handed the crowd a four-word weapon to wield against him.
De Niro’s appearance was unannounced. He opened with a nod to the First Amendment, calling himself “pretty close to being a free speech absolutist,” even when it comes to speech he despises. That’s when he pivoted, zeroing in on Trump’s recent remarks. The president’s May 12 comment about Americans’ financial struggles was the first target.
“When I hear Trump say, like he did a few days ago, ‘I don’t think about Americans’ financial situations, not even a little bit,’ I say shut the f**k up,” De Niro declared. The crowd erupted, and he didn’t stop there. He repeated the exercise with Trump’s claims about inflation and his insistence that he won the 2020 election, each time inviting the audience to join in. By the third round, the room was a chorus of defiance.
The event itself was a revival of sorts
It was organized by the Committee for the First Amendment, a group originally formed in 1947 during the McCarthy era, according to Billboard. Hollywood veteran Jane Fonda, whose father, Henry Fonda, was part of the original committee, helped bring it back to life last October. She framed it as a necessary defense against what she called “government repression and industry intimidation.” Fonda’s speech set the tone for the night, painting a grim picture of a culture under siege.
She warned that Trump’s administration and its allies were systematically dismantling free expression, pointing to defunded museums, shuttered institutions like the Kennedy Center, and a wave of book bans and canceled TV hosts. “It’s really bad,” she said, before singling out “cowardly corporations” for enabling the crackdown. She didn’t name names, but the implication was clear – corporate America was complicit, and artists were on the front lines of the fight.
Just two days before the event, the Department of Justice approved Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a merger that critics fear could reshape media landscapes in ways that favor political interference. The Ellison family, known for its Trump-friendly leanings, now has a stake in CNN, the network founded by Fonda’s late ex-husband, Ted Turner.
For Fonda, the deal wasn’t just about business but about the erosion of editorial independence, a threat she framed as part of a broader assault on democracy. “Our democracy is in peril,” she told the crowd. “We need our industry to be unified, activated, and unwilling to engage in anticipatory obedience. They come for one of us, by God, they come for all of us.”
De Niro’s speech built on that urgency, but he delivered it with the kind of sharp, crowd-pleasing wit. He opened with a joke about Trump’s recent 80th birthday celebration, which included a UFC-style cage match on the White House lawn. “Good evening everyone, and welcome to all of you who couldn’t get tickets to the White House cage fight,” he quipped.
The rest of the night was a masterclass in blending activism with artistry
Bette Midler took the stage to perform a reworked version of Woody Guthrie’s All You Fascists. She injected her own lyrics to target Trump’s immigration policies and attempts to “distract us from the Epstein files.” The reference to the late convicted sex trafficker, whose documents contain numerous mentions of Trump, was a pointed one.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and claims he barely knew Epstein. However, Midler’s lyrics framed the files as part of a larger pattern of obfuscation. “Hey there all you fascists, let me put you straight,” she sang. “When you come for the rest of us, we’ll fight you at the gate.” The crowd ate it up, turning the performance into a call to arms.
Broadway star Sasha Allen delivered a soul-stirring rendition of Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come. YouTuber Ms. Rachel performed an original song I’ll Sing From Here, alongside a choir of children. The song was written with immigrant kids detained at the Dilley Detention Facility in Texas.
Rufus Wainwright’s performance of Somewhere Over the Rainbow carried its own weight, with a nod to the song’s original lyricist, Yip Harburg, who was blacklisted in 1950 for refusing to name alleged Communists during the Red Scare. Patti Smith closed out the musical portion with her 1988 anthem People Have the Power.
The event’s location, The Town Hall, added another layer of symbolism
Built by suffragists over a century ago, the venue has been a space for activism. The gathering was a continuation of that legacy. The lineup – Julia Roberts, Tessa Thompson, Lily Gladstone, Ayo Edebiri, RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Miss Peppermint, Wilson Cruz, and Joy Reid – proved this wasn’t a one-off protest. It was a coalition that spanned generations and industries, all united by a belief that free expression is worth fighting for.
For De Niro, the night was a chance to do more than just criticize. It was about giving people a way to push back. His “shut the f**k up” refrain wasn’t just a catchy soundbite; it was a call to action, a way to turn passive frustration into active resistance.
(Featured image: Gabriel Hutchinson)
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