Is Robert De Niro Anti-Vaccine?
Does pushing propaganda about vaccines make you anti-vaccine?
Growing up, I was always a huge fan of Robert De Niro.
I especially loved Raging Bull and The Deer Hunter and must have seen each of them, and his other movies, hundreds of times.
Well, I used to… because now when I see any of them, all I see is him cozying up to Andy Wakefield.
Is Robert De Niro Anti-Vaccine?
That Andy Wakefield?
Yes, that Andy Wakefield…
Remember when Robert De Niro promoted Andy Wakefield’s movie and pushed the idea that vaccines are associated with autism?
“Last week, Mr. De Niro appeared on the Today Show to discuss the Tribeca Film Festival, of which he is a founder. Just a few weeks prior, Mr. De Niro came under heavy criticism for including an anti-vaccine documentary in the festival. As a result of the backlash, the documentary screening was canceled. During his interview, Mr. De Niro made multiple erroneous assertions about vaccines and gave credence to a theory that is not only unequivocally false, but one which also has potentially devastating repercussions.”
Vaccines and autism – Why Mr. De Niro is wrong and it’s time to move on
And although he eventually pulled the movie from the Tribeca Film Festival, the damage was done.
Robert De Niro had essentially become a celebrity anti-vaccine influencer.
“But the problem is not that Vaxxed is controversial, or even that it’s deceptive. Honestly, I consider a large number of well-made, popular documentary films fairly deceptive. The problem is that it is dangerous misinformation being legitimized under the banner of your considerable prestige.”
An Open Letter to the Tribeca Film Festival about Vaxxed
Damage that was compounded by an appearance the following year with RFK Jr in which they said that they would give a $100,000 reward for anyone who could provide scientific proof that vaccines are safe.
And he has been doing all this while vaccine hesitancy grows, vaccination rates drop, and rates of vaccine preventable disease surge.
It’s not a good look Mr. De Niro.
Yes, I’m talking to you!
Don’t end up being a schmuck for a lifetime, attached to that anti-vaccine celebrity label as fewer anxious parents vaccinate their kids and more and more of them get measles.
Yes, Robert De Niro is very much antivaccine. I've been writing about it since at last 2016. He's one of the now much less common left wing antivaxxers. I'm surprised that his hatred of Trump hasn't abated, given that Trump brought MAHA and antivax into the halls of power.