NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

Not Real News is a weekly fact check of widely circulated but inaccurate stories.

Video shows Robert De Niro rehearsing for a Netflix series, not yelling at anti-Israel protesters

CLAIM: Actor Robert De Niro was captured on video yelling at anti-Israel protesters in New York City.

THE FACTS: De Niro was rehearsing a scene for his upcoming Netflix series “Zero Day,” which was filming on a street in New York City, a Netflix spokesperson told The Associated Press. His comments are part of the script and had nothing to do with the Israel-Hamas war or protests around it.

False claims around the video began circulating online as police cracked down on college protests across the country.

One prominent version of the misrepresented video was labeled, “Robert De Niro Stands with Israel!” It showed the two-time Oscar winner speaking passionately in a crowd of people.

“This is not a movie,” De Niro says in the clip. “This is not a movie, this is real.”
He tells the crowd that they need to listen and let people get their jobs done. He encourages people to offer their support, but to stay behind barricades.

“You wanna keep talking nonsense then you gotta go home,” he says. He later adds: “They say they’re going to do it again! Again! We don’t want that.”

A caption added to the video makes it seem as though the “it” he is referring to is the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel that sparked the current conflict. “They say they are going to do it again! (October 7),” it reads.

One X post that shared the erroneously captioned video states: “I’d like to thank the #ProHamas terrorist sympathizers for getting on everyone’s last nerve. Robert De Niro agrees and with his usual ‘flair’ admonishes them that they are marching for more #October7massacres and to ‘Go home!’ ”

The footage was also misrepresented in posts that suggested the video was shot at the University of California, Los Angeles, where “physical altercations” occurred between dueling factions of protesters last week. Posts referred to the alleged demonstrators as “anti-Israel” and “pro-Palestinian.”

But De Niro was not admonishing protesters, nor was he talking about real events. The actor was rehearsing a scene for “Zero Day,” an upcoming Netflix series in which he is starring. The series is described as a “conspiracy thriller.”

“This is a rehearsal for a scene for a Netflix series that was shot on Saturday, April 27,” the streaming company told the AP, referring to the video spreading online. “It was part of a production.”

Netflix further confirmed that De Niro’s speech was from the show’s script and unrelated to the demonstrations around the Israel-Hamas war. The company added that while production cameras weren’t rolling when the video was shot, filming did take place that day in New York.

A subway entrance can be clearly seen in the background of the video with a sign featuring a telephone number that has a New York area code.

Stan Rosenfield, a spokesperson for De Niro, called the social media claims “false” and confirmed that the video shows a scene from “Zero Day.”

Actor Jesse Plemons, who is starring alongside De Niro as his character’s assistant, can be seen standing behind De Niro in the video.

Posts share fake New York Post story saying a bill would make it illegal to question 9/11

CLAIM: The New York Post published a story with the headline, “Congress to Vote on Bill That Would Criminalize Questioning the Events Surrounding 9/11.”

THE FACTS: No such article was published, a New York Post spokesperson told The Associated Press. An image made to look like a screenshot of a New York Post article was fabricated and shared on social media.

The fake image mimics how an article would look if viewed on the New York Post’s website from a mobile device. It includes the outlet’s logo, below which appears a series of social media icons. But it is also inconsistent with the appearance of actual New York Post stories.

For example, the text of the headline is centered, uses a different font and is capitalized in its entirety. There is also no tag above the headline indicating the article’s section.

“With strong support from AIPAC and the ADL, Congress is set to vote on a bill that would criminalize any questioning of the events that took place during the September 11th attacks,” reads text below a photo of the World Trade Center after a plane flew into each of the twin towers. The text adds that the bill includes penalties of up to $10,000 and five years in prison for anyone who “challenges the official narrative.”

One X post that shared the fabricated image states: “A law that breaks the first amendment? Orwellian.” It had received approximately 6,500 likes and more than 2,700 shares by the end of last week.

Searches on the New York Post’s website show no record of such an article. Iva Benson, a spokesperson for the outlet, confirmed that the image spreading on social media is “fake” in an email to the AP.

It appears that the image was created using an actual New York Post story about disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein being moved to Rikers Island after his 2020 New York rape conviction was overturned last month. Both the fake image and the real story say they were published on April 26 at 9:25 p.m.

Marshall Wittmann, a spokesperson for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, told the AP that AIPAC has “not supported any such legislation.” Anti-Defamation League spokesperson Todd Gutnick called the claims “a complete fraud.”

Congress is not considering a bill that would make it illegal to question the “official narrative” of 9/11. Current legislation related to the terrorist attacks include bills to provide the 9/11 Memorial Museum with a one-time grant and to limit the availability of plea deals for anyone responsible for the attacks.