A video shows the actor Robert de Niro shouting at pro-Palestinian protesters in New York.
This isn’t true. The video was taken while the actor was rehearsing a scene for an upcoming TV series and is unrelated to the demonstrations taking place in New York.
A video is being widely shared on Facebook, Threads, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) with claims it shows the actor Robert De Niro shouting at a group of pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel protesters in New York. But he was actually rehearsing a scene for a new TV show.
Many versions of the video are labelled “Robert De Niro stands with Israel!” and show the actor yelling. Posts claim Mr De Niro was speaking to “anti-Israel” or “pro-Palestine” protesters.
Demonstrators have been protesting against the war in Gaza at college campuses across the United States in recent days, including at Columbia University in New York.
The subtitles claim Mr De Niro says: “This is not a movie. This is not a movie. This is real. Right now, you gotta listen, you gotta work, you gotta get your job done. Stand by all of your support like you talking nonsense, then you gotta go home. They say they are going to do it again! (October 7th). Again! You don't want that. None of us want that. Come on. Let's all get serious.”
The audio is muffled in parts, and Mr De Niro does not say “October 7th” in the clip, the day of the Hamas attacks against Israel.
The earliest version of the video Full Fact could find was posted on TikTok without any subtitles or mention of protestors or Israel. The post features the hashtags #robertdinero #zerodays #newmovie #nyc #newyork #wallsreet [sic].
A spokesperson for Mr De Niro told Full Fact: “What was seen was erroneous reports of Robert De Niro supposedly yelling at a group of anti-Israeli protesters.
“The video was a small snippet from a rehearsal scene from the Netflix series Zero Day which was being filmed on the streets of New York, April 27, where the character played by De Niro is confronting a group (all paid extras). De Niro’s lines were 100% scripted.
“An unknown onlooker videoed the scene last Saturday, during filming on the streets of New York, and posted. Someone copied the post and fabricated an entirely different and bogus meaning.”
A Netflix spokesperson confirmed to Full Fact that “the video and images were shot on location in NYC on April 27 during a rehearsal for Zero Day”.
Zero Day is an upcoming, six-episode Netflix series where Mr De Niro is playing the role of a former president who “comes out of retirement to lead a commission tasked with investigating a potential world crisis”.
Photo agency Getty Images has several photos, which it says show Mr De Niro on the set of Zero Day on 27 April on Wall Street in New York, including some with his co-star Jesse Plemons. None of the descriptions mention protesters.
In the widely shared video, Mr Plemons can be seen about 12 seconds in, standing behind Mr De Niro.
We often see miscaptioned images and videos that don’t show what they claim to in the wake of significant global events like the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. For tips on how to verify video content before you share it, read our guide.
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Image courtesy of Josh Jensen |
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because Robert De Niro wasn’t shouting at pro-Palestinian protesters, he was rehearsing a scene for a new TV show.
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