Oscar-winner Robert De Niro is being honored for his pro-LGBT activism just as he's confounded doctors and scientists for continuing to defend a discredited anti-vaccine film that his own film festival rejected.
GLAAD, a leading gay civil-rights group that tracks LGBT images in the media, announced Wednesday that De Niro would receive its 2016 Excellence in Media Award for his support for LGBT rights and for sharing the story of his gay father's struggle to find self-acceptance late in life.
Meanwhile, De Niro appeared on the Today show Wednesday to promote his 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival. The interview covered the controversy about the film Vaxxed, which argues there is a link between vaccines for childhood diseases such as measles and mumps, and autism in young children.
Except that there isn't, according to science and medicine, leading to an uproar last month after Tribeca seemingly endorsed the view of the film by putting it on the schedule.
De Niro, the father of an autistic child, at first defended the film as a conversation starter, then a few days later said the conversation had grown too angry and the film was being pulled from the festival.
But on Today, he defended the film again, saying he personally believes there is a link between vaccines and autism, at least for some children, and that few in science or medicine were doing enough to explore the possibility.
He said he just wants "to know the truth."
"I'm not anti vaccine, I want safe vaccines," he said. He said everyone should see Vaxxed because "there's definitely something to it."
But numerous studies by doctors and medical researchers have not found any such link. Moreover, Vaxxed and its creator have been discredited: It was directed by Andrew Wakefield, the "father" of the anti-vaccine movement, who first linked vaccinations and autism in a 1988 report that later had to be retracted. Also, his medical license was revoked.
De Niro's return to the vaccines-cause-autism conflict threatened to upstage his latest honor. GLAAD's annual excellence award goes to media professionals "who have made a significant difference in promoting equality and acceptance" of LGBT people.
The 27th annual awards ceremony will be in New York on May 14.
A two-time Oscar-winner, De Niro has long been an ally to the LGBT community and an outspoken supporter of same-sex marriage rights.
In 2014, he shared the story of his gay father in Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr., an HBO documentary in which De Niro movingly recounted his father’s struggle with being gay, afraid to live openly until late in his life.
GLAAD also cited other ways De Niro has helped bring LGBT stories to a wider audience: Tribeca has made LGBT inclusion part of its annual film lineup. De Niro produced and starred in the 1999 film Flawless, which told the story of a man and his friendship with a transgender woman. In 2007, De Niro portrayed an openly gay character in Stardust, which received a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film.
“Through his work honoring the memory of his openly gay father, Robert De Niro has not only sent a message of acceptance to LGBT people, but also educated audiences of the harms of anti-LGBT prejudice and discrimination,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, in a statement. “He is a tireless advocate who has helped bring to the world LGBT storylines that spark dialogue, build support, and encourage understanding.”
