Robert De Niro Defends Anti-Vaccine Doc: ‘There’s More to This Than Meets the Eye’

Actor and producer Robert De Niro explained his decision to pull the documentary Vaxxed from the Tribeca Film Festival on the Today show Wednesday, noting that he still has questions about a potential link between vaccinations and autism, though scientists have said definitively that a link does not exist.

“I, as a parent of a child who has autism, am concerned,” De Niro said. “There’s more to this than meets the eye.”

De Niro described anecdotes from parents who say they saw their children change “overnight” after receiving vaccines. Asked whether that’s what he observed with his own child, he said, “My wife says that, I don’t remember, but my child is autistic … and there is something there.”

Jane Rosenthal, his co-founder of the festival, noted that the film was pulled from the lineup not because sponsors or donors were threatening to pull out, but because of pushback from other filmmakers. Asked if he regrets jettisoning the documentary, De Niro said, “Part of me does and part of me says, ‘Let me let it go for now,’ you know, and I’ll deal with it later in another way.”

[Today]