Robert De Niro caves to Big Pharma, censors Wakefield documentary exposing autism-vaccinations link from Tribeca Film Festival

RT
Sun, 27 Mar 2016 15:35 UTC

© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

De Niro has an autistic child, stating it has given him a personal interest in the film.

Robert De Niro has withdrawn the film "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe" from his Tribeca Film Festival after previously defending its right to be screened.

The Oscar-winning star had an 'awakening' after consulting with scientists, although initially he hoped the film would contribute to a larger discussion on autism, a misunderstood disorder that affects one of his six children.

The controversial documentary by Andrew Wakefield, a British former doctor, claims there is a link between vaccines and autism in children, particularly African-American boys.

His study was originally published in a British medical journal in 1998 before being retracted in 2010 after it was found to contain numerous flaws and was described by the journal as "an elaborate fraud."

De Niro, who is on the board at the festival, said in a statement previously that he had asked personally for the film to be screened as he has an autistic child and wants "all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism to be openly discussed and examined."

The actor had been defending the decision to premiere the film at the festival after allegations by scientists and filmmakers that it would legitimize Wakefield's claims.

In his latest statement, he said that after reviewing the film with members of the "scientific community," he said he did 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," the statement added.

PLEASE SHARE...Saturday, March 26, 8:30pm PST To our dismay, we learned today about the Tribeca Film Festival's...

Posted by Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe on Saturday, March 26, 2016

The filmmakers released their own statement Saturday night, saying they were denied "due process" in responding to claims made against their film and that the incident is an example of "the power of corporate interests censoring free speech, art and truth."

The film may have lost the glamorous launch pad of the Tribeca Film Festival, but the filmmakers are still free to distribute in the marketplace.

Comment: Someone obviously got to De Niro, and it wasn't with facts. That someone (among others perhaps) may have just been the whores in the mainstream media hammering away at De Niro. It seems all one has to do is label someone a conspiracy theorist...

The Los Angeles Times and other main-stream media (MSM) networks has criticized actor and filmmaker Robert DeNiro for allowing the screening of the anti-Vaccine documentary film 'Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Conspiracy' produced and directed by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. The article 'How Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival sold out to anti-vaccine crackpots' criticized DeNiro's decision to air the movie during the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City:

[...]

The Los Angeles Times also claimed that Dr. William Thomson's "Conspiracy Theory" has been debunked due to a "2014 survey of scientific studies" showed that the MMR vaccines are "not" associated with the "development of autism" or "autism spectrum disorder":

As my colleague Steven Zeitchik reports, the festival's publicity for this film endorses its conclusion that "vaccines do cause autism" and treats the controversy in pure Hollywood style: "The most vitriolic debate in medical history takes a dramatic turn when senior-scientist-turned-whistleblower Dr. William Thompson of the Centers for Disease Control turns over secret documents, data and internal emails confirming what millions of devastated parents and 'discredited' doctors have long-suspected." You would think it's the second coming of "The China Syndrome." But it's nothing of the kind. Wakefield's work, and the "conspiracy theory" of Thompson, have been thoroughly debunked.

Let's be absolutely plain about this: There is absolutely no evidence of any link between the MMR vaccine and autism. In a 2014 survey of scientific studies covering 1.26 million children, researchers stated bluntly that "vaccinations are not associated with the development of autism or autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, the components of the vaccines (thimerosal or mercury) or multiple vaccines (MMR) are not associated with the development of autism or autism spectrum disorder." That's just one example of the many studies finding no link. Thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative that was used until 1999 in the MMR vaccine

The Los Angeles Times also criticized anchor, journalist and television host Katie Couric's decision to give conspiracy-mongers airtime exposing HPV vaccines and called former model and television host Jenny McCarthy ignorant for linking the MMR vaccine to autism:

That hand-waving in favor of "dialogue" can shield a lot of damaging mischief. It's the same sentiment that was behind Katie Couric's decision to give equally irresponsible conspiracy-mongers about HPV vaccines a platform on her syndicated daytime show in 2013, exposing their science-free viewpoints to millions of viewers. Couric soon acknowledged her misstep, recognizing that children's health and even lives are at stake when parents are encouraged to doubt the efficacy and safety of vaccines. (We're not even talking about starlet Jenny McCarthy, whose claims about the links between the MMR vaccine and autism are merely ignorant.)