Robert De Niro storms out of interview because of 'negative inference'

The Goodfellas actor was unimpressed by the reporter's "condescending" attitude
'Condescending': Robert De Niro walked out of an interview
Theo Wargo/NBC/Getty
Emma Powell22 September 2015
The Weekender

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US actor Robert De Niro cut short an interview because of "negative inference" and the reporter's "condescending" attitude.

De Niro, 72, was being interviewed by a Radio Times journalist about his latest film The Intern, in which he stars alongside Anne Hathaway, when he took offence at Emma Brockes' line of questioning.

After being asked how he resists the temptation to go into “autopilot” mode on set and his views on the Tribeca district of New York - where De Niro co-founded a film festival - being taken over by bankers, he replied: "I'm not doing this darling."

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The Goodfellas actor asked Brockes to pause her recorder at which point he "pops up out of his chair, starts pacing madly and says he’s cutting short the interview because of the 'negative inference'".

“What, about the bankers?!” she asked to which De Niro responded: “All the way through. Negative inference. The whole way through and I’m not doing it. I’m not doing it, darling.”

Speaking to The Independent after the exchange, Brockes said: "I have sympathy with De Niro because nobody wants to be there for these choreographed junket interviews.

"I was expecting him to be a little quiet but the combination of hostility and condescension irritated me and I ended up losing my cool."

De Niro plays an intern at Anne Hathaway's fashion business in the new film which has received negative reviews from critics.

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