NEW YORK, Nov. 6 (UPI) — Robert De Niro lashed out against tech mogul Stewart Butterfield onstage, taking offense at his comments regarding celebrities.
Page Six reported the spat took place during the Wall Street Journal’s Magazine Innovator Awards in New York City on Wednesday. Butterfield, who co-founded Flickr and office messaging application Slack, took the stage before De Niro to accept an award for Technology Innovator. It was then during his acceptance speech that he rubbed De Niro the wrong way.
“We are a long way from San Francisco,” joked Butterfield as he scanned the room of “supermodels and movie stars.” Butterfield joked he was receiving the “nerd award” and pointed at De Niro, mentioning, “I watched Godfather II on the plane . . . when you killed Don Fanucci, I liked that.”
De Niro apparently did not find the humor in the entrepreneur’s speech and proceeded to speak his mind as he presented an award to Angelina Jolie.
“Whoever the last speaker was . . . I thought you were a bit condescending to us actors . . . celebrities,” De Niro said. “I’m gonna go on record with you just to say that. And I don’t give a [expletive] who you are.”
Butterfield has taken the bashing in stride, posting on Twitter alongside a photo of De Niro: “I just literally got trash-talked by Robert De Niro. ‘I don’t know who the [expletive] you are.'” #lifegoals.”
De Niro will next be seen opposite Zac Efron in Dirty Grandpa, which opens in theaters Jan. 22.
