Claim:
Actor Keanu Reeves called Robert De Niro a "Grade A jackass" and said, "I won't work with him."
Rating:
Labeled Satire ( About this rating? )
On May 31, 2024, the Reagan Was Right Facebook page posted a quote meme claiming actor Keanu Reeves called Oscar-winner Robert De Niro a "Grade A jackass." The quote meme read in full, "Keanu Reeves Says There's a Good Reason He's Never Been in a Film With De Niro: 'The Guy Is a Grade A Jackass. I Won't Work With Him.'" The text caption above the meme added, "Keanu never says a mean thing about anyone, so you just know De Niro really deserves it."
As of this writing, the post received more than 131,000 likes, 8,500 comments and 21,000 shares.
User Comments About the Reeves and De Niro Meme
One user commented under the post, "I can't watch any of DeZero's 'tough guy' movies anymore after seeing what a sawed off crybaby he is in real life."
A different person remarked, "Keanu is telling the truth, the reason he is so angry, and a miserable little person and attacks good people is, he has a control problem just like Biden, they think they're better and smarter than all of us and have the right to tell us how to live, what to do, pathetic is the word for them. My advice for him he should keep his opinion to himself and quit stirring up hate."
Another user added, "I really do like Keanu Reeves, he tells it like it is. The TRUTH!"
Someone else wrote, "De Niro is a great actor but needs to stay out of politics. It is not his style."
The Quote Is Fake
However, the truth was this item about Reeves and De Niro was not a factual recounting of real-life events.
The Reagan Was Right Facebook page is part of the America's Last Line of Defense network of satire and parody. Reagan Was Right's bio reads, "An authorized subsidiary of the America's Last Line of Defense network of trollery. Nothing on this page is real." The page's category information displays the words entertainment, satire and parody. Further, the quote meme itself displays a "satire" label in the lower-left corner.
'Punish Bob' Cycle
A page manager for the Reagan Was Right Facebook page humorously commented under the post with the following:
Everyone loves Keanu, and we're currently in a "Punish Bob" cycle, so this was a natural occurrence.
Does that mean it's true? Definitely not. The thing on our bio says nothing here is true, so if we posted true things, we'd be liars, and honesty is very important to us.
God Bless the truth. And God Bless America.
The comment about a "'Punish Bob' cycle" referenced De Niro's May 28 remarks outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump's New York City criminal hush-money trial was taking place. According to The Associated Press , De Niro's presence was an official appearance organized by President Joe Biden's reelection campaign.
Other celebrities featured in recent satirical memes on the Reagan Was Right Facebook page included "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg, "Sound of Freedom" actor Jim Caviezel , actor Kurt Russell and Oscar winner Kevin Costner .
'Taters'
Dunning-Kruger-Times.com is one of the websites included in the America's Last Line of Defense network of satire. The website's "About Us" page features information about "taters" – a term that sometimes appears in the network's Facebook comments. The term references the politically-conservative voters at whom the content is targeted, and who often believe the page's content to be genuine:
About Taters
"Taters" are the conservative fans of America's Last Line of Defense. They are fragile, frightened, mostly older caucasian Americans. They believe nearly anything. While we go out of our way to educate them that not everything they agree with is true, they are still old, typically ignorant, and again — very afraid of everything.
Our mission is to do our best to show them the light, through shame if necessary, and to have a good time doing it, because…old and afraid or not, these people are responsible for the patriarchy we're railing so hard against. They don't understand logic and they couldn't care less about reason. Facts are irrelevant. BUT…they do understand shame.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.
Sources:
Izzo, Jack. "Jim Caviezel Refused To Work With 'Awful, Ungodly' Robert De Niro?" Snopes , 21 May 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/jim-caviezel-robert-de-niro-ungodly/ .
Liles, Jordan. "Kevin Costner Fired 'Disrespectful' Robert De Niro?" Snopes , 30 May 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/kevin-costner-fires-robert-deniro/ .
Long, Colleen, and Zeke Miller. "Biden Campaign Sends Allies De Niro and First Responders to Trump's NY Trial to Put Focus on Jan. 6." The Associated Press , 28 May 2024, https://apnews.com/article/trump-de-niro-biden-insurrection-hush-money-78a33c5083a243e18f9fbd63ce9e8ddd .
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