Robert De Niro has expressed regret for deciding to pull a controversial film that suggests the MMR vaccine causes autism – and has insisted the film is something that people should still go and see.
De Niro became interested in vaccine safety after his own son because autistic ‘overnight’ following the jab.
The actor and creator of the Tribeca Film Festival came under fire last week after deciding to pull Andrew Wakefield’s new film Vaxxed: From Cover-up To Catastrophe.
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Dailymail.co.uk reports:
‘All I wanted is for the movie to be seen and people can make up their own judgement but you must see it,’ he said during an appearance on The Today Show.
‘Let’s find out the truth, let’s just find out the truth.’
He added that he hadn’t yet ‘fully explored’ the fierce backlash against the documentary ‘and I will.’
De Niro, who has an 18-year-old Elliot son with autism, said he had hoped that screening the film could have started a ‘discussion’ about the alleged link between the vaccine and autism.
‘There’s a lot of things that are not said. Nobody seems to want to address that, or they say they’ve addressed it and it’s a closed issue.
‘But it doesn’t seem to be because there are many people who say they saw their kid change overnight.
‘My wife says that (is what happened to my son). I don’t remember. But my child is autistic.
‘I, as a parent, of a child who has autism, I’m concerned, I want to know the truth.’
De Niro also suggested that people should watch another documentary, Trace Amounts, which focuses on the now disproved link between autism and vaccines.
‘There’s a lot of information about things that are happening with the CDC, the pharmaceutical companies, there’s a lot of things that are not said,’ De Niro added.
De Niro admitted he was ‘not too sure’ about the disgraced former British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who is at the center of the documentary.
But he wanted to help overcome the reluctance to talk about the issue, both in the scientific community and in the general public.
He felt that people were trying to ‘shut down’ discussions around vaccines and autism.
‘There’s more to this than meets the eye, believe me,’ he warned. ‘There’s something that people aren’t addressing. And for me to get so upset here, on the Today show, with you guys, means there’s something there.’
The actor said he simply had not anticipated the ‘knee jerk’ reaction from filmmakers – many of whom had threatened to pull out the festival.
‘Part of me does (regret pulling it), and part of me says let it go for now and I’ll deal with it later in another way.
‘Because I didn’t want the festival to be affected.’
De Niro told the presenters he was skeptical of the scientific community’s findings that there is no link between the vaccine and autism.
‘I believe it’s much more complicated than that. I’m not a scientist but i know because I’ve seen so much reaction.
‘I’m not anti-vaccine, but I’m pro-safe vaccine.’
The 72-year-old went onto compare the reactions of some children to medications such as penicillin – and claimed it could be the same with vaccines.
He even questioned the rise in cases of preventable diseases, such as measles, across the country since the MMR controversy.
‘There’s a kind of hysteria, a knee jerk reaction. Everybody should have choice whether to take vaccines or not. But it does benefit big drug companies.’
The actor and producer had first announced he would be screening the documentary at the festival in a personal statement last week.
‘Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined,’ he said, referring to his wife of 18 years, Grace Hightower.
The statement continued: ‘In the 15 years since the Tribeca Film Festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming.
‘However this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening Vaxxed.
‘I am not personally endorsing the film, nor am I anti-vaccination; I am only providing the opportunity for a conversation around the issue.’
However, he later said that after reviewing the film alongside Tribeca organizers and members of the scientific community, the decision to screen the movie had been reversed.
He continued: ‘The Festival doesn’t seek to avoid or shy away from controversy. However, we have concerns with certain things in this film that we feel prevent us from presenting it in the Festival program. We have decided to remove it from our schedule.’
The documentary claims that US health authorities ‘sliced and diced’ data linking the triple jab for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) to rising autism rates.
Update: An earlier version of this story said that Robert De Niro had blamed the MMR vaccine for his son’s autism. The actor did not state this in his interview with The Today Show. He said he did not know whether or not the MMR vaccine was the cause of his son’s autism.
Sean Adl-Tabatabai
Did anyone proofread this? My god…
Neither proof reading nor accuracy are a concern. Although DeNiro said ‘he wasn’t sure’ about Wakefield, he was challenging the reporter who stated that Wakefield was disgraced and a fraud. DeNiro also said he did his due diligence confirming the CDC whistleblower was legit.
you read this and wondered about the writing… #wow #newlevelofselfabsorbtion
Did anyone proofread this? My god…
Neither proof reading nor accuracy are a concern. Although DeNiro said ‘he wasn’t sure’ about Wakefield, he was challenging the reporter who stated that Wakefield was disgraced and a fraud. DeNiro also said he did his due diligence confirming the CDC whistleblower was legit.
you read this and wondered about the writing… #wow #newlevelofselfabsorbtion
Good for you Bob! I was so disappointed in the action to remove it from the Tribeca Film Festival…perhaps, the controversy has helped the film… There is a Houston film festival that was threatened if they did not pull the film VAXXED…Thanks for stepping up!
Good for you Bob! I was so disappointed in the action to remove it from the Tribeca Film Festival…perhaps, the controversy has helped the film… There is a Houston film festival that was threatened if they did not pull the film VAXXED…Thanks for stepping up!
I’m glad he brought attention to this issue.
Even though the film Nazi’s turned thumbs down, he’s given it press.
Sometimes a tease like this is far more effective in getting people to look.
There is no doubt in my mind as a teacher, foster parent, parent and owner of a school since 1972 there are harmful effects for too many kids.
The aggressive pace the vaccine companies have rolled out multiple vaccines, AND gotten our corrupt government to grant the industry immunity from legal actions by harmed parties — speaks volumes.
The financial power these companies wield over so called “professional peer groups” threatens their survival.
Funding studies and grants to medical schools among other very deep reaching methods gives corporations strings that are extremely difficult to sever.
Pharmacy makes less than the so called alternative medicene industry.
Quacks like mercolla make 70 times what a typical pediatrician makes.
They’re the greedy bastards throwing children’s health under bus for a quick buck.
Didn’t see where DeNiro was citing Mercola. Everything I said above is based on fact – reality.
Vaccine cocktails – multiple vaccines administered in one shot – is beginning to appear the culprit for damages in some cases.
JB Handley’s recent blog revealed the “scientist” who was behind getting the movie pulled. It was Ian Lipkin at the CDC.
Do you have the link to the blog? I’d love to see the post. Thanks.
https://medium.com/@jbhandley/what-s-with-deniro-s-tribeca-co-founder-jane-rosenthal-513d89afe9df
Thank you very much! 🙂
Great link..thanks
I’m glad he brought attention to this issue.
Even though the film Nazi’s turned thumbs down, he’s given it press.
Sometimes a tease like this is far more effective in getting people to look.
There is no doubt in my mind as a teacher, foster parent, parent and owner of a school since 1972 there are harmful effects for too many kids.
The aggressive pace the vaccine companies have rolled out multiple vaccines, AND gotten our corrupt government to grant the industry immunity from legal actions by harmed parties — speaks volumes.
The financial power these companies wield over so called “professional peer groups” threatens their survival.
Funding studies and grants to medical schools among other very deep reaching methods gives corporations strings that are extremely difficult to sever.
Pharmacy makes less than the so called alternative medicene industry.
Quacks like mercolla make 70 times what a typical pediatrician makes.
They’re the greedy bastards throwing children’s health under bus for a quick buck.
Didn’t see where DeNiro was citing Mercola. Everything I said above is based on fact – reality.
Vaccine cocktails – multiple vaccines administered in one shot – is beginning to appear the culprit for damages in some cases.
JB Handley’s recent blog revealed the “scientist” who was behind getting the movie pulled. It was Ian Lipkin at the CDC.
Do you have the link to the blog? I’d love to see the post. Thanks.
https://medium.com/@jbhandley/what-s-with-deniro-s-tribeca-co-founder-jane-rosenthal-513d89afe9df
Thank you very much! 🙂
Great link..thanks
I just want to say this if you have never known a child who was just fine until after they recieved that MMR vacine and they went from being a regular child hitting there devolopmental mild stones early and suddenly they change its an over night reaction. I saw this I watched it and it did happen. I am not anti vaccine at all but I am anti our government lying about vaccines from the 1980s and 1990s.
post hoc fallacy.
The truth is that many of more visible differences between autistics and neurotypicalls show about the same time the bulk of childhood vaccines are given and people are conflating the two.
There have been over a hundred scientific studies from around the world that show there is no actual link between vaccines and autism.
Recent science shows many of the differences between autistic and typical brains lie in regions that begin formation during the second trimester.
The so called epidemic has also been shown by studies of later life diagnosis to be an artifact of broader definition and better diagnosis of autism as well as reduced stigma and thus reduced reluctance to diagnose.
I just want to say this if you have never known a child who was just fine until after they recieved that MMR vacine and they went from being a regular child hitting there devolopmental mild stones early and suddenly they change its an over night reaction. I saw this I watched it and it did happen. I am not anti vaccine at all but I am anti our government lying about vaccines from the 1980s and 1990s.
post hoc fallacy.
The truth is that many of more visible differences between autistics and neurotypicalls show about the same time the bulk of childhood vaccines are given and people are conflating the two.
There have been over a hundred scientific studies from around the world that show there is no actual link between vaccines and autism.
Recent science shows many of the differences between autistic and typical brains lie in regions that begin formation during the second trimester.
The so called epidemic has also been shown by studies of later life diagnosis to be an artifact of broader definition and better diagnosis of autism as well as reduced stigma and thus reduced reluctance to diagnose.
DUH NIRO seems a bit two-faced. But I feel for him, his wife and their vaccine destroyed some whose whole potential was crushed by faulty products that should be safe. Another family who lost at Vaccine Roulette.
DUH NIRO seems a bit two-faced. But I feel for him, his wife and their vaccine destroyed son, whose whole potential was crushed by faulty products that should be safe. Another family who lost at Vaccine Roulette.
Article by the distributor of the film Vaxxed, about removal from Tribeca.
http://www.moviemaker.com/archives/news/tribeca-precedent-framing-vaxxed-op-ed/
DUH NIRO should listen to his with, Not Co Founder of Tribeca Jane Rosenthal.
DUH NIRO should listen to his Wife, Not Co Founder of Tribeca Jane Rosenthal.
There is no question that VACCINES have a major role in this Autism issue as well as ALL neuro degenerative problems such as ADD, ADHD, Asberger’s, Autism, even schizophrenia, and SIDS, especially where over 10,000 infants are dying each year of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)!
There are several contributory factors making this a “system problem” and the fact that medical diagnostics are so inadequate to see many problems, it has clouded the issue. There are two very glaring truths here, 1) Drug companies are making huge profits on vaccines and the illnesses that are created as a result of the problems and 2) Children are going into Autism within hours of getting vaccines and Autism is now epidemic at 1 in 50.
Yes, there are plenty of questions.
The two glaring truths you’ve claimed don’t include a pathomechanism.
False and wrong.
The quacks saying these things are making more than ‘big pharma’
Also the so called epidemic
Is an artifact of broader definitions, better diagnosis, and lowered stigma reducing reluctance to diagnose.
We are, and have been for a great many decades if not centuries, 2% or the human population.
There is no question that VACCINES have a major role in this Autism issue as well as ALL neuro degenerative problems such as ADD, ADHD, Asberger’s, Autism, even schizophrenia, and SIDS, especially where over 10,000 infants are dying each year of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)!
There are several contributory factors making this a “system problem” and the fact that medical diagnostics are so inadequate to see many problems, it has clouded the issue. There are two very glaring truths here, 1) Drug companies are making huge profits on vaccines and the illnesses that are created as a result of the problems and 2) Children are going into Autism within hours of getting vaccines and Autism is now epidemic at 1 in 50.
Yes, there are plenty of questions.
The two glaring truths you’ve claimed don’t include a pathomechanism.
False and wrong.
The quacks saying these things are making more than ‘big pharma’
Also the so called epidemic
Is an artifact of broader definitions, better diagnosis, and lowered stigma reducing reluctance to diagnose.
We are, and have been for a great many decades if not centuries, 2% or the human population.
DeNiro wants to start a discussion. So let’s have a discussion. The scientific evidence of a causal link between vaccine and autism is not convincing, at best.
The scientific evidence proves there is none.
DeNiro wants to start a discussion. So let’s have a discussion. The scientific evidence of a causal link between vaccine and autism is not convincing, at best.
The scientific evidence proves there is none.
No it fricking didn’t cause autism. Uncritical reporting and uninformed actor spreading poisonous fiction.
No it fricking didn’t cause autism. Uncritical reporting and uninformed actor spreading poisonous fiction.
https://youtu.be/icSIbnHR4XE
i hope he puts it back on… onto the big screen and release on video. The crooked pharmaceutical industry make their money here… destroying lives…gov’t condoning. they will pay dearly in hell.
i hope he puts it back on… onto the big screen and release on video. The crooked pharmaceutical industry make their money here… destroying lives…gov’t condoning. they will pay dearly in hell.
I don’t know about autism,but my baby took seizures after vaccines ,I stopped before she ended up with brain damage,as many children did back then.My doctor just told me not to worry it.
I don’t know about autism,but my baby took seizures after vaccines ,I stopped before she ended up with brain damage,as many children did back then.My doctor just told me not to worry it.
It’s in the name, TRIBEca: De Niro’s Tribe, bought and sold and deep inside, in plain sight do these demons slip and slide.
Tribeca is actually the name of an area in lower Manhattan. It’s an abbreviation for – ‘Triangle Below Canal Street’. Refers to the shape the boundary streets that make up that neighborhood in NYC lol like, supposedly a triangle.
Unless you’re referring to Italians it has nothing to do with tribe, if you mean Jewish.
Thanks for the info’ about the Maid in Manhatter Tribeca origin, sincerely. And my barb was aimed at the woke asheep de Niro, whether Tribe or just a puppet thereof, playing all sides, as in ‘I am all for safe vaccines (no such thing as a ‘safe’ vaccine), and I’m against autism vaccines’. Hollyweird, indeed.
He deserves every bit of
of mockery and scorn coming his way.
Oh, he cares now. F this wack job.