The NAB prioritizes bipartisanship, refrains from awarding De Niro

The National Association of Broadcasting has announced it will no longer give an award to actor Robert De Niro, who appeared with the Biden campaign earlier this week outside former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial.

The organization is scheduled to host an event on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that would have given De Niro the Leadership Foundation’s Service to America Award. However, the award is now being withheld from the actor, who is also no longer attending the event.

“This event is proudly bipartisan, uniting those from across the political spectrum to celebrate the impactful work of local broadcasters and our partners,” a spokesperson for the organization told the Washington Examiner. “While we strongly support the right of every American to exercise free speech and participate in civic engagement, it is clear that Mr. De Niro’s recent high-profile activities will create a distraction from the philanthropic work that we were hoping to recognize. To maintain the focus on service of the award winners, Mr. De Niro will no longer be attending the event.”

De Niro was joined by Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone, former police officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, at the press conference on Tuesday, the first time the Biden campaign held a press conference outside Trump’s hush money trial. The actor claimed that the former president is a danger to the United States and that if Trump becomes president again, people could “kiss these freedoms goodbye.”

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Trump has responded to De Niro’s claims on social media, calling the actor a “wacko.”

The Washington Examiner’s Byron York noted how Biden’s campaign hosting this conference marked a “huge change” in its strategy, as President Joe Biden had previously kept quiet about the hush money trial and then chose to address it. Karl Rove, meanwhile, contended that the campaign made a “stupid mistake” recruiting De Niro for this press conference and criticized the actor’s demonization of Trump.