Robert De Niro Takes a Sharp Swipe at Elon Musk at Documentary Screening

Robert De Niro used a New York screening of Alex Gibney’s documentary “Musk” to deliver a pointed critique of Elon Musk and his political spending. De Niro, who co-founded the Tribeca Festival with Jane Rosenthal, introduced the film Sunday at the Crosby Hotel, where a roomful of Academy members was reportedly in attendance. De Niro told the audience that Musk had spent about $300 million helping Donald Trump win the 2024 election and had recently poured nearly half a billion dollars into Republican candidates in the midterms. He then asked how that investment had worked out, drawing cheers and laughter from the crowd, according to the report. The actor also brought up Musk’s announcement that Tesla would stop producing the Cybertruck next summer. De Niro described the election result as a win for democracy over Musk’s money, while warning that Musk remained a force to watch. He urged the audience to stay alert and take action, and called the film important enough to recommend to others. Rosenthal also weighed in after seeing the nearly four-hour documentary, joking that spending that long with Musk was a lot to ask. She described the film as engrossing and said it examined a figure who could not simply be ignored. Gibney thanked De Niro for his support of what he called the resistance. The documentary, released theatrically by Bleecker Street and now available on video-on-demand platforms, has earned more than $700,000 at the domestic box office, according to the article. It won Best Biographical Documentary at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards in New York on Sunday and has screened at several festivals, with another showing scheduled at DOC NYC.