Robert De Niro Has Pulled The Controversial Anti-Vaccination Documentary From Tribeca Film Festival

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Robert De Niro announced on Saturday that Andrew Wakefield’s controversial documentary, which links vaccinations to autism, will no longer be shown at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Just a day after De Niro, a festival cofounder, defended his selection of Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, he and his team have decided to pull the film from the festival line-up. In a statement to BuzzFeed News, De Niro explained that he previously included Wakefield’s documentary on the roster to start a conversation about autism. De Niro, who revealed he has an autistic child in his earlier statement, said that it’s “an issue that is deeply personal to me and my family.”

After reviewing Wakefield’s documentary, however, De Niro decided it no longer “contributes to or furthers the discussion” that he had hoped for.

Here is the full statement from De Niro issued to BuzzFeed News on Saturday via a representative for the film festival:

“My intent in screening this film was to provide an opportunity for conversation around an issue that is deeply personal to me and my family. But after reviewing it over the past few days with the Tribeca Film Festival team and others from the scientific community, we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for.
The Festival doesn’t seek to avoid or shy away from controversy. However, we have concerns with certain things in this film that we feel prevent us from presenting it in the Festival program. We have decided to remove it from our schedule.”