Robert DeNiro wrote an open letter of support to his friend Meryl Streep

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I have to say, now that we’re 30-some-odd hours removed from the Golden Globes, I was pleasantly surprised by how this year’s telecast was so newsworthy and dramatic. We’ve had a bad run over the past few years of really subdued, unsurprising, undramatic and uninspired awards shows. But between the surprise wins (Aaron Taylor Johnson, Isabelle Huppert), the surprise presenters (Brad Pitt), the memes (#HiddenFences) and Meryl Streep throwing down the f—king gauntlet, this year’s Globes was a great, interesting show. And you know it was a great show because we’re probably going to be talking about it all week, mostly because of Meryl. There are a million stories adjacent to Meryl’s fiery-yet-classy speech, so let’s get to it.

Meryl got to Donald Trump. Vulture had a great write-up about how President Baby Fists has always been obsessed with Hollywood and how Hollywood’s protests against him have actually gotten under his skin. There’s nothing really new here, just a well-written piece about how Baby Fists is a thin-skinned child who throws tantrums when the “cool kids” hate him.

“Celebrities should stay out of politics.” That’s what the Deplorables are crying about now, that HOW DARE Hollywood people have sh-t to say about President Baby Fists. There’s a huge amount of cognitive dissonance, right? Trump had the most name-recognition of all the potential candidates because he was (guess what?) a TV star.

The Committee to Protect Journalists. Meryl name-dropped CPJ in her speech and while the non-profit hasn’t been flooded with donations, they’ve gotten more donations in the past 36 hours than they ever have before. Typically, they would have gotten about five donations on an average Sunday night. On Globes Sunday, they got about 700 donations.

Trump used to love Meryl. In a 2015 interview with the Hollywood Reporter, he was asked about his favorite actresses. He said: “Julia Roberts is terrific, and many others. Meryl Streep is excellent; she’s a fine person, too. The problem is I’ll name three or four or five and then the hundred that I know will be insulted, and I don’t mean to insult them.”

Celebrities are defending Meryl. For much of Monday, the hashtag #ThingsTrumpThinksAreOverrated was trending after Trump called Meryl “overrated.” Many celebrities were taking part, and many celebrities tweeted their love to Meryl in general. But one of Meryl’s oldest and closest friends chose to write her an open letter of support – Robert DeNiro wrote to Meryl:

Meryl –

What you said was great. It needed to be said, and you said it beautifully. I have so much respect for you that you did it while the world was celebrating your achievements. I share your sentiments about punks and bullies. Enough is enough. You, with your elegance and intelligence, have a powerful voice – one that inspires others to speak up as they should so their voices will be heard too. It is so important that we ALL speak up.

We love you.
Bob

[From People]

Aw. They need to make another movie together. That was sweet.

Anyway, obviously… we should all #StandWithStreep.

Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet.

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66 Responses to “Robert DeNiro wrote an open letter of support to his friend Meryl Streep”

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  1. Lucy says:

    “Celebrities should stay out of politics” is the most BS argument I’ve ever heard. Yes, there are indeed lots of people who should just STFU about politics, but that’s because they know nothing about it, not because of their status.

    • Clare says:

      I don’t think ANYONE should stay out of politics. Celebrities are people, and citizens, too. Just….be informed, y’know? Outside of that I don’t give a shit if your’re a singer, a shopkeeper, or a dog trainer. You get to have a voice by virtue of being a person (and a vote by virtue of being a citizen) – your profession doesn’t exclude you from that!

      Basically, the whole ‘Celebrities should keep out of politics’ thing is dumb.

      UNLESS we can use that card to get Trump out of politics. in which case Celebs should TOTALLY stay out of politics.

      • Lucy says:

        Exactly. I notice it actually happens in most countries, here in Arg some people actually say stuff like “stay out of it, your opinion stains your image”. The only time in which I have a problem with people talking about it is when they are not only uneductated about it but also refuse to even contemplate getting some actual information.

      • Rachel says:

        Agreed. That’s why we have the First Amendment. So people can express their opinions. Doesn’t matter what that person’s job is. When I saw people posting ignorant garbage on social media, did I tell them they should stay out of politics because they are bankers, mechanics, salesmen, stay at home moms, etc?? No. Because everyone is entitled to their opinion, and (for now) we live in a country where everyone is entitled to express their opinion. If you don’t like it, turn the channel.

      • Lahdidahbaby says:

        Perfect, Claire, I agree. My husband actually pulled out the *celebs outta politics* bs and I was so pissed off I got all flummoxed and didn’t say it half as well as you did. If I’d seen yr post first, I’d have just read it aloud to him.

        Will do that tomorrow, dammit. Thanks! xxx

    • Nancy says:

      Lucy, yes people who know nothing about politics should shut the f up and not be elected to be president.

    • milla says:

      SOME celebs should stay out of the real world. but this legend, this wonderful man, with fantastic talent, he is not one of them.

      the thing is that just like in real world, HW people can also be really dumb and careless, while others do think. they are informed, but they are also good at what they do, so their voice counts.

      today is one year since we lost David Bowie. i mention him cos he raised his voice for black artists, who married a black, Muslim woman and protected his family, despite being controversial in public.

      Kurt Cobain is also an amazing example. he was fighting for women’s right, he was against homophobia and racism.

      BUT, they both were talented people who cared. they used their fame for good, not only to promote their new material or whatever.

      we all know who has the voice and who is a joke. Streep and DeNiro are the powerful ones.

    • lavins says:

      Ronald Reagan was a TV Star, a Hollywood Movie Star, he was in Politics, but the Republican hypocrites, seem to forget that.

  2. Jenns says:

    I loved this tweet so much:

    “imagine you were such a f*ck up that meryl streep used a lifetime achievement speech to tell the world how sh*tty you are”

    https://twitter.com/annetdonahue/status/818315112918487040

    • sunnydaze says:

      LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      I don’t know why, but I’m so in love with this tweet.

      Thank you for making my day!

  3. Talie says:

    During the W era, many spoke up but no one really cared until Kanye made that comment…and that’s only because it was the one comment that actually bugged W. Otherwise, he didn’t follow Hollywood.

    Trump will give these voices a lot of power because he loves entertainment. Trust and believe, if the HFPA had asked him to appear and give out an award, he would have!

  4. NeoCleo says:

    Celebrities should stay out of politics? GREAT: the orange idiot needs to step down from office.

  5. Matador says:

    Not super crazy about DeNiro for a lot of reasons, but that was sweet. May have to watch “Falling in Love” again.

    • Nancy says:

      I will not allow myself to comment on trump again. But I have to say I did see Falling In Love and it was so good. So non-DeNiro. When he confesses to his wife about another women and she asks if he’s sleeping with her. He responds no, which he wasn’t…..and she said that’s worse. Classic, she knew he was in love with Meryl’s character. And….the last scene on the train…oldie but goody.

    • minx says:

      I love that movie! I’ve seen it countless times.

  6. HK9 says:

    Good. Meryl is just as American as the rest and she has the right to speak. I hope people no matter who they are continue to stand up for what’s right.

    • MellyMel says:

      This is what I keep saying. She’s an American and any actor who is one has every right to speak out about what’s going on in this country. Just because these people “entertain us” or make millions of dollars shouldn’t discredit their opinions, especially when they know what the hell they’re talking about.

      • lavins says:

        Ronald Reagan was an Actor , a movie star. The Repubs seem to forget that, when they complain about Actors speaking politics.

        I love what Meryl Streep said. I hope the media calls Trump out on his nonsense.

  7. Ramona says:

    The party that gave us a mid tier 50s actor riddled with dementia as president, a mono syllabic action star as a governor and then a narcisstic game show host as president have the nerve to demand that celebrities not comment about politics? Where were they when Trump was threatening civil war on twitter because Obama won a second term? Those people are stupid and evil and I am tired of biting my tongue about it.

    • Lightpurple says:

      And Dirty Harry as a mayor and character actor Fred Thompson, who acted as a Senator and President, as a Senator who ran for President.

    • MellyMel says:

      Exactly! They literally elected a celebrity. But because his opinions match theirs it’s fine. The whole thing is so idiotic.

    • RussianBlueCat says:

      Wasn’t Sonny Bono a Republician too? He was in the House of Representatives

    • Matador says:

      ” and character actor Fred Thompson, who acted as a Senator and President, as a Senator who ran for President.”

      Fred Thompson was deeply involved in law and politics before becoming an actor. He was minority counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee and is credited for Howard Baker’s infamous, “What did the President know and when did he know it?” question. Thompson’s first acting job was playing himself in “Marie,” the Sissy Spacek film about Marie Ragghianti. Thompson was Ragghianti’s lawyer in her wrongful termination case against Tennessee Governor Roy Blanton.

      Please don’t ignorantly lump him in with celebrities turned politicians.

    • SusanneToo says:

      And Reagan’s buddy, Senator George Murphy, former dancer/actor who “joked” that Mexican immigrants were made for field labor because they “were built close to the ground.”

    • NastyWoman` says:

      Jesse Ventura, the wrestler.

    • SusanneToo says:

      We’re forgetting Ah-nald.

    • Kristen says:

      Oh, but don’t forget that same party went bat-shit crazy when Al Franken was elected to the Senate. It didn’t matter to them that he was brilliant and has been, by all accounts, a very effective Senator, they were just pissed because he was a DEMOCRAT. The GOP is nothing if not wildly hypocritical.

  8. robyn says:

    What a joke! Trump once said he doesn’t mean to insult any stars!!! OMG the man insults EVERBODY and doesn’t give a care. He is shameless in his lies.

  9. Lightpurple says:

    What I’m finding a bit upsetting about this is that Trump’s reaction to Meryl is distracting people from Ryan’s ongoing assault on health care and McConnell holding hearings on Cabinet nominees who have not been cleared by ethics.

    • robyn says:

      lightpurple, you’re right. We must constantly bat away all these side shows to get to what is real and will effect people and the world.

    • Kitten says:

      Agreed. But I think it’s ok to comment on more trivial matters as long as we stay informed and act on more pressing concerns. Annoyed that McConnell’s office isn’t taking calls.

      • Who ARE These People? says:

        It hasn’t for months…we started calling last fall, well before the election. His office is not set up to hear from the people who pay his salary and benefits.

      • Lightpurplei says:

        Neither is Ryan’s. However, they’ve both been using surrogates to push their policy initiatives the last few days. And I call and leave messages in the district offices of the surrogates.

      • Emily says:

        I’ve said many times that I hope I live long enough to see karma come for McConnell (I should because I’m much younger than him, but one never knows). And of course his office isn’t open, why should it be? The people who keep putting him in power over and over and over again clearly aren’t paying any attention to anything he does.

    • Indiana Joanna says:

      @LightPurple. Thanks so much for reminding us that Trump uses these twitter distractions to keep us and the press from looking at the really egregious stuff the hateful right wingers are perpetrating in Congress. Tweeting idiotic comments was a ploy that worked for baby fists and accomplished his goal of never discussing the real issues during the campaign. We have to be smarter and more aware than these people.

      • Indiana Joanna says:

        Just want add that baby fists’ ploy of causing outrage about something ridiculous is used by sociopaths and gaslighters. We have to be smarter than to fall for this mentally abusive tactic that’s meant to confuse us and debase the real issues.

    • Frida_K says:

      Get on the horn and call your representatives. That’s what I do, daily. It’s hard at first but eventually you get used to it. I’m always polite and I say: “I am a tax-payer and a voter. I am calling because I am concerned about x, y, and z. I’m not sure what precisely is going on over there in Washington, but this is what it looks like to me as a private citizen [here, I politely and firmly explain what “it” looks like].” Then I say, “I’ve been lazy. All I’ve done up until now is pay taxes and vote. And this election has taught me a hard lesson. In future, I’m going to be active and involved. Please know that I will be keeping an eye on what [insert politician’s name] is doing, and I shall respond accordingly.”

      I almost made a couple staffers cry when I was making calls about gutting the ethics oversight committee. I was nice, but relentless.

      Call, call, call! It gets easier and easier and they do seem to get freaked out when you are pleasant, logical, and firm.

      • Indiana Joanna says:

        @Frida. I’m going to cut and paste your comment to send to my reps in Congress. Thanks so much!

      • cathy says:

        You’re right. We need to keep up the pressure and let all of our representatives know that they can’t get away with this crap any more.

    • SusanneToo says:

      Posted this on the Clooney thread, but in case anyone missed it, here it is again:

      http://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Nx970-5j0ls4aJbmiKqwN0E3OfcpAqhXgM3zyfBZ4TM/htmlview?usp=sharing&sle=true

    • HookedOnCoffee says:

      Yep. Trump and Hollywood are just opposing mirrors of narcissism. What one says about the other, only serves to focus the light back on themselves.

      They pretend to hate each other, but they need each other.

      What sad, desperate people we have let be our guides. I would say that people should seek entertainment in literature or real art (haha, Meryl Streep, if Hollywood is art, so is football and MMA. It is a soulless money making machine that seldom manufactures original creations anymore. Any actual art that slips through is purely incidental at this point. I only point this out because she was sooo hilariously supercilious about saying that your average TV show has more artistic and cultural merit than football. I might think more about a football game, to be honest). Of course, then we’d elect Dan Brown president.

  10. Aims says:

    Everyone has the right to speak up. If you’re a human being and have a brain, you have the right to yell your outrage from the rooftop . Make no mistake , ahole is going to tear this country into.

    I am furious and will fight this ignorant moron and his fellow bone headed minons with everything I’ve got.

  11. QQ says:

    You Guys, LOL Look at the Women’s March Line Up https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/818636592504074241

  12. holly hobby says:

    Well said, Bob!

  13. Anilehcim says:

    I voted for Hillary so I DEF don’t belong in the deplorable category, but I kind of rolled my eyes at Meryl’s speech and frankly, most celebrities who pontificate about what the average American should do… but hear me out. My personal opinion is that Meryl Streep is a queen in Hollywood and she is unquestionably the most respected actress of our time, therefore she is probably our best bet to really evoke change. Yet she doesn’t really DO anything to seek change except talk about it. Meryl hit a sour note with me when she talked about how Hollywood openly accepts diversity because we all know there is a huge problem with sexism/racism in Hollywood that desperately needs to be addressed and while so many actors and actresses are currently speaking about it, they aren’t really doing much to actually CHANGE it. From my perspective, don’t just continue going to these award shows when you know that black movies aren’t being respected at the same level and think it’s enough to get up on stage and point that out and then go home feeling good about yourself with your awards later that night. If Meryl really feels like there needs to be more equality in Hollywood and that POC need to be acknowledged on an even playing field she could singlehandedly create that change by doing something like refusing to attend these award shows until things change. THIS is how change comes about. Not just standing up at the podium and talking about how things should be.

    Before anyone comes for my head about this, all I’m saying is that if anyone in Hollywood could really bring about change and not have it blow up in their faces, it would be Meryl Streep. And yet she’s simply talking about it while basically going along with the status quo. I find her message about diversity to be a little hollow because if she really thinks Hollywood is an accepting place, she definitely doesn’t have her finger on the pulse like she thinks she does. This particular comment leads me to believe that she’s kind of shielded by her privilege.

  14. HookedOnCoffee says:

    Sorry, I am VERY anti-Trump, and I think Streep deserves to be skewered. Unlike Jenna Bush, she didn’t screw up. She just showed us what happens when you don’t have ‘no-friends.’

    Her speech was the most self-aggrandizing thing I have heard in a long time…and it came at the heels of a presidential election. The woman could have been classy, she could have made an intelligent and poignant speech, she could have called attention to the REAL problems that Trump causes. But, no, she just spewed petulant drivel about herself and hers. I banged my head on a wall every time she and Laurie insinuated that Hollywood was in Trump’s crosshairs. Hello? You are a bunch of millionaires who live in the spotlight! You have a voice, and you will be the last people on earth to have it taken from you…respect that, jackasses! If you want to point out that Trump is a bully who will target the weak and the powerless…a good place to start is to not pretend you seriously act like he will do you, of all overpriveleged people, serious harm.

    If she had wanted to be controversial and poignant, she could talk about how a Somali refugee who makes minimum wage is now fair game for being a Muslim immigrant. But that guy wasn’t her, and she had to make it all about herself (Meryl Streep doesn’t get enough attention)! She was a caricature of a typical narcissistic Hollywood idiot who thinks that the world stops and ends with herself. Trump might hate Hollywood, but he IS Hollywood. And right now, he and overpriveleged Hollywood brats are just feeding off of each other’s narcissism. The more they say about each other, the more focus they draw to themselves. I certainly hope psychiatric research into Cluster B disorders is being furthered by this. It would be the only silver cloud I see so far.

    You know how people hate the theory that Trump won because the Left is elitist and up it’s own ass? Yeah, Streep gave that theory SO much credibility. And, she doesn’t even know it, because she clearly lives up her own bungehole. It was like watching South Park’s ‘Smug Alert’ unfold in real life.

    • Anilehcim says:

      I strongly agree with you. Like you, I’m also EXTREMELY anti-Trump and everything he stands for, but I still do have an issue with celebs trying to add their two cents in because they often miss the mark because they don’t really have a clue about the issues that average people face. As you noted, they tend to come off as being completely up their own asses and very preachy. This is off topic, but the song “Feed the World” is a prime example of my issue… a bunch of millionaires singing at us that we need to feed the world and insinuating that issues like world hunger don’t ever cross our minds or concern us (with lyrics like, “tonight thank god its them instead of you”)… OH, OK. I said this in my own post, but where Meryl really slipped up in my book is when she had the audacity to say that Hollywood is the place where diversity thrives, because this shows how tone deaf and out of touch she truly is. She also made a tone deaf remark about MMA and football that perpetuates that antiquated notion that only people who take themselves rather seriously/devote their time to the arts are truly enlightened… Why go there?! Easy for a woman whose career has never faltered or been anything other than praised to talk about how great and exemplary things in Hollywood are because the sexism that other women face has never been an issue for her. It’s like she knew what she SHOULD say but it came off as very inauthentic and self-serving to me.

      • HookedOnCoffee says:

        Haha, thank God I wasn’t the only one who thinks this.

        I said this in another post–but Streep’s comment about football and MMA weren’t merely tone deaf, it was objectively stupid. Hollywood isn’t an art machine, it is a machine that turns attention into money. It barely generates original content anymore…and a huge percentage of its ‘original content’ is woefully pedestrian. Any real art that slips through was incidental to the money making process.

        Your average sport is more cerebral than your average silly little TV show. It is perhaps for that reason that ‘sports people don’t take themselves that seriously’ (most genuinely intelligent people I know, don’t). Meryl Streep does not want to have that argument with me…because clearly, she doesn’t articulate herself well.

    • Indiana Joanna says:

      I agree that the speech had its moments of drivel in that she acted like Hollywood was in real danger from Trump fanatics. As you say those actors have money and status, so they aren’t the ones who are going to suffer. Also her comments about martial arts was kind of silly. But I’m glad she called out bully baby fists.

      • HookedOnCoffee says:

        I completely agree that…that man…should never be left off the hook for anything. Unfortunately, I disagree that Streep even did that effectively. Calling out Trump had been done to death by this point. She isn’t the first person to do it, wasn’t the only person to do it that night, and won’t be the last (mercifully).

        The way to move a discourse forward is to not skip like a broken record. Trump is loathsome, that’s been covered. Trump is a representative of our own baser primate instincts that love marginalizing the weak, it’s been pontificated to death. Trump is a wealthy cityboy millionaire who crassly manipulated the poor, disenfranchised people that his ilk feeds off of, we know.

        Now is the time to shine a light on how to proceed. Call attention to specific people and organizations that advocate for the poor, marginalized, and misunderstood (those aren’t usually in Hollywood, so that’s never going to happen). Advocate an idealized primary school program that teaches children empathy and respect for other cultures…by forcing them to engage those cultures (I have worked in public schools. The only class where this truly happens now, is ESL. Which Babyhands MacBaby is sure to try and defund…but still scream that immigrants should learn English…ugh). Anything but beat the same dead horse.

        The more you say the same damn thing, the less likely people will take even that seriously. Healthy discourse should be broadened, not attenuated.

  15. Joannie says:

    Let’s not forget that many of these HW actors are the shareholders in multinational corporations that control a lot of the politics and political figures who supposedly represent us, the little guy. I agree with HookedonCoffee’s comment. For the record I despise Trump. I’m in Canada and fear the effect he will have on us. It will be interesting to see how he and Trudeau interact with one another.

  16. KatyD says:

    If someone votes for the “dark side” because the left acts “so smug, ” then clearly, they are not thinking very logically. It reminds me of the Bush vs Gore debates where people said Al Gore with his science learnin’ was so smug. Instead they liked Bush because you can have a beer with that fella’ and he wouldn’t make you feel inferior.

    The job requires SMARTS! Negotiating our crazy world requires critical thinking. It’s sad that we’ve demonized having an education, having empathy and having a moral center. I remember Benjamin Franklin writing about the importance of an educated population and this is why he set up a free, lending library–so, people will educate themselves. Education used to be something we believed in and cared about. That’s no longer true. Misinformation, willful ignorance, and lies rule. The voters that showed up to the polls voted for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately, we are all stuck with their bad decisions–yet again.

    • SusanneToo says:

      In this climate, it would no longer be possible for any of the founding fathers or Lincoln or either of the Roosevelts to be elected.

      • KatyD says:

        That’s sadly true. The best and brightest will be ignored because they don’t have the charisma of a game show host, they won’t lie on command, and they’ll try to explain things in a rational way (omg–how boring!) If Trump doesn’t destroy us all, the next version certainly will. So sad…

  17. Marley says:

    #StandwithStreep

    Except fot the time she gave Roman Polanski a standing ovation when he won the Best Director award for The Pianist.

  18. shouldawoulda says:

    reality tv celebrities on sh#t shows should stay out of politics, i agree, but that did not happen did it?

  19. detritus says:

    TSNs Overdrive is commenting on Streep’s speech and they are upset she’s not staying in her lane. The Football MMA bit has one of them frothing about it.
    Not one word about the content other than to complain that the comparison between art and sport wasn’t fair.

  20. Trashaddict says:

    I think she’s putting her money and time where her mouth is:
    http://www.simplystreep.com/category/charity-causes/
    People need to get up regularly and point out that the emperor is not wearing a beautiful suit.
    It will not be taken well, because that’s the worst thing you can do to a narcissist.
    I credit her for keeping that conversation going. I hope she will still keep it going.