Robert De Niro calls Trump a 'gangster'

NEW YORK: The legendary Hollywood actor Robert De Niro has compared Donald Trump to a “gangster” and said he is "unfit" to be president. 

The megastar  made  this remarks during an interview with CNN’s Brian Stelter that Mr Trump is “crazy”, before responding bluntly when asked how he deals with criticism from the president’s backers at Fox News.

De Niro, a vocal critic of the president, also  dropped f-bomb on live show. The host of the  programme gently reminded him that the interview was live on a Sunday morning, before then asking why he chose to use such strong language.

De Niro responded: “We are in a moment in our lives in this country where this guy is like a gangster. He’s come along, he’s said things, done things.

"We say over and over again, ‘This is terrible, we’re in a terrible situation, we’re in a terrible situation.’ And this guy keeps going on and on without being stopped.”

It’s not the first time that the actor has criticised the president in that way, and comes after he gained a lot of attention — and a standing ovation — for using a similar vocabulary during the Tony Awards.

Two days earlier, on the red carpet for the New York Film Festival opening night premiere of his new film "The Irishman," De Niro told Variety he hopes Trump gets impeached.

It is pertinent to note that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week announced a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump after a whistleblower said the president had pressured Ukraine's leader to investigate the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

De Niro has become an outspoken Trump critic in recent years, and last year played Special Counsel Robert Mueller in a series of "Saturday Night Live" sketches about the White House. 

Donald Trump, in previous reaction, has  called De Niro "punch drunk" and a "very low IQ individual".

De Niro's new film, "The Irishman," directed by Martin Scorsese, opens in theaters on November 1 and on Netflix on November 27.