Leonardo DiCaprio, everyone’s favorite yacht enthusiast and occasional Oscar-winner, hit the stage at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival to hand over the Honorary Palme dโOrโaka the โLifetime Achievement, Youโre Basically a Cinema Godโ awardโto the living legend, Robert De Niro.
De Niro, 81 years young and still scowling better than anyone in Hollywood, accepted the golden leaf trophy with his partner Tiffany Chen and his tiny tot daughter Helen watching proudly. Yes, De Niro is still winning awards and changing diapersโiconic.
But this wasn’t just a sweet old man moment. Oh no. Bobby D had something to say. And by โsomething,โ we mean a fire-breathing roast of Donald Trump that left the Croisette sizzling.
He called Trump a โphilistine president,โ which is basically a polite way of saying, โthis dude wouldnโt know culture if it hit him in the face with a baguette.โ (And yes, Cannes is in France, so weโre sticking with baguette analogies.)
Then De Niro dropped the real drama bomb:
โNow, he has announced a 100% tariff on films produced outside the U.S. Let that sink in for a minute.โ
Oh, it sunk. Like a low-budget submarine movie.
โYou canโt put a price on creativity,โ De Niro said, channeling every artist ever, โbut apparently you can slap a tariff on it like a clearance sticker at Walmart.โ
He didnโt stop there. He called out political attacks on the arts, said this wasnโt just an American problem but a โglobalโ one, and basically turned his acceptance speech into a rallying cry for freedom, culture, and standing up to big orange energyโwithout violence, but with a lot of passionate finger-wagging.
โItโs time for everyone who cares about liberty to organize, to protest, and of courseโto vote,โ De Niro said, proving once again that no one can go from sweet grandpa to fiery revolutionary quite like him.
He wrapped it up by praising the Cannes Film Festival as a 12-day global celebration of art, cinema, and people who can sit through 4-hour-long subtitled movies without checking their phones.
TL;DR:
Leo handed De Niro a shiny leaf.
De Niro handed Trump a verbal flamethrower.
Cannes applauded. France probably offered De Niro citizenship.
And somewhere, Trump is googling โwhat is a philistine?โ and yelling at Alexa.
