If you’re a lover of film, you likely miss the days when Robert De Niro was better known for gracing the screen with his unforgettable performances than spewing nasty and divisive political rhetoric across the media landscape.

The man who once gave gripping performances in such classics as “Taxi Driver,” “Goodfellas,” and “The King of Comedy” now seems more comfortable viciously attacking people he disagrees with politically than reading the words of a script.

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The actor is now defending controversial comedian Michelle Wolf’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner performance of last Saturday, even though the widely panned routine took cheap and nasty potshots at press secretary Sarah Sanders.

“There was a lot of truth in Michelle Wolf’s joke, and the bullies and the liars are still intimidated by the strength and the truth. Where we run into trouble is when we allow the bullies and liars to dictate the conversation,” De Niro said Monday to an audience at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual Chaplin Award Gala in New York City.

“Shame on them [the White House Correspondents’ Association]!” De Niro continued. “Stand up and strap on your balls and deal,” he added crudely. “It was the only time that I ever had any sympathy or empathy for Sarah Sanders. They cut to her and all of a sudden she looked like she was hurt. I said, ‘Geez, maybe she’s a real human being.'”

Not satisfied even with that, the actor then directly attacked Sanders.

“I thought, She’s got two or three kids. What is she going to tell her kids in 10 years about how she represented or protected Donald Trump? How is that going to come through? I don’t know. How could she justify, rationalize her behavior? What does it take to just walk away from that situation?”

PopZette editor Zachary Leeman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.