Robert De Niro talks “abuse of power” by politicians during SAG speech

Robert De Niro has received the Screen Actors Guild lifetime achievement award on Sunday, earning thunderous applause from his fellow performers.

However, the star spent much of his acceptance talking politics.

“There’s right, and there’s wrong, and there’s common sense and there’s abuse of power,” who received his award from Leonardo DiCaprio.

When De Niro took aim at politics – but did not name Donald Trump in person – about half the room took to their feet to applaud.

“As a citizen, I have as much right as anybody — an actor, an athlete, anybody else — to voice my opinion,” De Niro said. “And if I have a bigger voice because of my situation, I’m going to use it whenever I see a blatant abuse of power.”

The actor has been a frequent critic of Trump but kept his criticism under wraps during the ceremony at the 56th SAG awards.

He ended the politics part of his speech with, “That’s all I’m going to say”.

When presenting the award, DiCaprio lauded De Niro for his early acting skills.

“His specificity in detail and his fearless pursuit of authenticity in his work have influenced not only myself but entire generations,” said DiCaprio, who co-starred with De Niro in “This Boy’s Life” in 1993.

“He has given us career-long explorations of the human conditions,” DiCaprio said.