Robert De Niro still supports anti-vaccine documentary: 'All I wanted was the movie to be seen'

Though his Tribeca Film Festival ultimately opted to pull the controversial documentary Vaxxed from its lineup, Robert De Niro still supports the movie. 

"I think the movie is something that people should see," De Niro said on Today Wednesday. "There was a backlash that I haven't fully explored and I will, but I didn't want it to start affecting the festival in ways I couldn't see."

"It was a knee-jerk reaction, especially from the filmmakers," De Niro said of the backlash that erupted when Vaxxed was initially included in the festival's lineup.

Vaxxed was ultimately removed from Tribeca's slate -- not because sponsors or donors were incensed by it, but because other filmmakers threatened to leave the festival if it screened.

"I'm not anti-vaccine. I want safe vaccines," De Niro clarified.

De Niro, though, seems to think the movie had salient points to make about the supposed dangers posed by vaccines.

"If you're scientists, let's see, let's hear. Everybody doesn't seem to want to hear much about it,' he said. "It's shut down, and you guys are the ones that should do the investigating."

De Niro was adamant about the value of screening the film and investigating the alleged effects of vaccines, particularly because his own child has autism.

"There's a lot of information about things that are happening with the CDC, the pharmaceutical companies," De Niro said. "There's a lot of things that are not said...It's not about questioning how some people got autism. "[It's about] how the vaccines are dangerous if given to certain people who are more susceptible, and nobody seems to want to address that.

"Or they say they've addressed it and it's a closed issue. But it doesn't seem to be, because there are many people who come out and say 'No, I saw my kid change overnight.'...So there's more to this than meets the eye."

In the end, said a frustrated De Niro, "all I wanted was the movie to be seen. People can make their own judgment, but you must see it.”

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