The film star says Tribeca will not show Vaxxed, a film by British former doctor Andrew Wakefield, who was struck off by the GMC.
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| Robert De Niro appears at the 2015 Tribeca film festival |
Robert De Niro, the organiser of New York's Tribeca film festival, has been forced to pull a documentary about vaccination after controversy.
The film, Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Conspiracy, is directed by UK doctor Andrew Wakefield, who was struck off the British medical register over his comments on the MMR vaccine.
De Niro had originally said he wanted to show the film in order to start a conversation about autism, from which one of his children suffers.
The Meet The Fockers star originally said the issue it explores was "very personal to me and my family".
In 2010, the GMC said that Wakefield was "dishonest", "misleading" and "irresponsible" while carrying out research into a supposed link between the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine, bowel disease and autism.
It found him guilty of a series of charges at a hearing in central London, and banned him from practising in the UK.
At the time, speaking from New York, Wakefield told Sky News that an increasing number of doctors and scientists in the US were "getting involved in looking at vaccines and autism because they realise there is a problem."
De Niro released a statement saying he had reversed his decision after reviewing the film.
"We do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for."
He said members of the scientific community had reviewed it with him.
He added: "The festival doesn't seek to avoid or shy away from controversy. However, we have concerns with certain things in this film that we feel prevent us from presenting it in the festival program."
Wakefield and Del Bigtree, the film's producer, criticised the decision in a statement saying they didn't get a chance to defend themselves.
"We have just witnessed yet another example of the power of corporate interests censoring free speech, art and truth," the statement said.
Source : Here