'You're helping Trump by saying 'F*** Trump!' Rob Reiner lashes out at Robert De Niro for turning president into a martyr

  • Director Rob Reiner warns Hollywood liberals to watch their criticism of Trump
  • Reiner: 'There's a very fine line between energizing the base and energizing the other side'
  • Robert De Niro said 'It's f*** Trump' at last week's Tony Awards
  • It earned him a standing ovation from the liberal Hollywood audience and a Twitter attack from Trump
  • De Niro is not the only actor to use an award show to criticize the president 

Director Rob Reiner denounced actor Robert De Niro and other celebrities for their attacks on President Donald Trump, claiming it helps the president instead of hurting him.

De Niro called the president a 'f---ing idiot' and a 'f---ing fool' during the annual Tony Awards last week, which earned him a standing ovation from the liberal Hollywood audience and a Twitter attack from Trump.

'You're helping Trump by saying 'F*** Trump,' because he can say 'look at these people, these elitists,' ' Reiner told The Hill's new TV show 'Rising.'

Reiner said he thinks celebrities ultimately hurt Democrats when they go on rants against Trump.

Rob Reiner said he thinks celebrities ultimately hurt Democrats when they go on rants against President Donald Trump.

Rob Reiner said he thinks celebrities ultimately hurt Democrats when they go on rants against President Donald Trump.

He was highly critical of Robert De Niro's speech at the Tony's that featured the actor saying 'f*** Trump'

He was highly critical of Robert De Niro's speech at the Tony's that featured the actor saying 'f*** Trump'

'There's a very fine line between energizing the base and energizing the other side,' the director said.

De Niro went onstage at the Tony Awards 2018 and said: 'I'm just going to say one thing. F*** Trump.'

The New York audience immediately started applauding, and as it rose to its feet, De Niro added: 'It's no longer down with Trump. It's f*** Trump.'

The awards were broadcast live on CBS but the network had enough time to bleep out the Godfather actor's f-bombs. 

Trump fired back with his favorite weapon - his Twitter account.

After his Singapore Summit the president whacked at De Niro to say 'Robert De Niro, a very Low IQ individual, has received to (sic) many shots to the head by real boxers in movies. I watched him last night and truly believe he may be 'punch-drunk.'

The president's diatribe against De Niro did not end there either, he continued in a second tweet that the actor must not 'realize the economy is the best it's ever been with employment being at an all time high, and many companies pouring back into our country.'

Trump added a little name calling to the end of his missive, telling De Niro: 'Wake up Punchy!'    

This isn't the first time De Niro has criticized the president nor is he the only actor to do so.

The Oscar winning star is one of Trump's harshest critics in Hollywood.

Trump fired back at De Niro with his favorite weapon - his twitter account

Trump fired back at De Niro with his favorite weapon - his twitter account

Trump called the actor 'punchy'

Trump called the actor 'punchy'

Robert De Niro later apologized - but to Canada - for Trump's behavior at the G7 summit

Robert De Niro later apologized - but to Canada - for Trump's behavior at the G7 summit

De Niro, who won an Academy Award for playing a boxer in 'Raging Bull,'  famously said he wanted to punch Trump 'in the face' during the 2016 election, called him a 'f***ing fool' and the 'baby-in-chief' in January 2018, and the following month said the U.S. was currently suffering from a 'case of temporary insanity'.

De Niro continued the streak for a third month in a row when he said in a speech in LA:  'A college education is important, but education without humanity is ignorance. 

'Look at our president. He made it through University of Pennsylvania, so he was exposed to a quality education, but he's still an idiot.'

The actor went on to say that as long as America's 'leadership is so appalling and so corrupt' he'll be 'speaking out at every turn'.  

A few hours prior to Trump's tweets against him, De Niro did make a public apology — but not to Trump. While in Toronto after the Tonys, De Niro told Canadians he was sorry for Trump's behavior at the G7 Summit, which had taken place a few days beforehand. 

'I just want to make a note of apology for the idiotic behavior of my president,' he said. 'It's a disgrace. And I apologize to [Canadian Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau and the other people at the G-7. It's disgusting.'

Other liberal actors have used award shows to bash the president. 

Actress Meryl Streep, who was honored at the Golden Globes in January 2017 for her body of work, used the opportunity to rant against the president.

'Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners and if we kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts,' Streep said to huge applause from the room.

Streep added: 'When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.'

She called on the press to 'hold power to account, to call him on the carpet for every outrage' -- another apparent reference to Trump.

The president has also gotten in a Twitter war with comedian Jimmy Kimmel and been criticized by a range of performers from George Clooney to John Legend. 

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