TIL when Robert De Niro sought Italian citizenship, he was opposed by the largest Italian-American group for damaging the reputation of Italians by playing gangsters
TIL when Robert De Niro sought Italian citizenship, he was opposed by the largest Italian-American group for damaging the reputation of Italians by playing gangsters
An influential Italian-American organisation has appealed to Silvio Berlusconi, asking the prime minister to cancel Italy's plan to award De Niro honorary citizenship.
On the other hand, apparently the Italians loved him:
In Ferrazzano, the village which De Niro's great grandparents left in search of the US dream in the late 19th century, most of its 3,280 residents are among his greatest fans and are adamant that he should be formally made an Italian. He does not officially qualify for a passport because neither his parents nor his grandparents were Italian born.
De Niro was born in New York in 1943, and has never visited the village.
Every August for eight years, the village's now wealthy population of lawyers, doctors and office workers, most of who commute to work in the nearby town of Campobasso, has turned out for a week long festival of De Niro films.
Also, I didn't realize Shark Tale was so racially divisive. My favorite quotes:
"This man [Spielberg] is going to make millions of dollars with a film that is going to introduce unflattering and untrue stereotypes of Italian-Americans as gangsters to millions of children."
"This organisation has not even seen the film, so we are somewhat perplexed. It's an animated movie about colourful fish. I can't see how that can offend anyone. … at no point in the film does any fish say 'I'm Italian'."