GLAAD, the world’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organisation, announced today it will honour Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro at the 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York at the Waldorf Astoria New York on May 14, 2016.
The 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Delta Air Lines, Hilton, Ketel One Vodka, and Wells Fargo. The Awards recognise and honour media for their fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives. The GLAAD Media Awards also fund GLAAD’s work to amplify stories from the LGBT community and issues that build support for equality and acceptance.
De Niro will receive GLAAD’s Excellence in Media Award, which is presented to media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equality and acceptance. Previous Excellence in Media Award honourees include Kelly Ripa, Russell Simmons, Tyra Banks, Judy Shepard, Julianne Moore, Glenn Close, Barbara Walters, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Diane Sawyer, and Vanessa Redgrave.
Robert De Niro is a two-time Academy Award-winning actor and a longtime ally to the LGBT community. Most recently, he shared with audiences the story of his gay father in Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro, Sr., a 2014 HBO documentary directed by Perri Peltz and Geeta Gandbhir. In it, De Niro movingly recounted his father’s struggle with self-acceptance, not living openly until the latter part of his life.
In addition to his outspoken advocacy in support of marriage equality, De Niro has brought LGBT storylines to broader audiences. In 2002, he co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival, which has made LGBT inclusion a hallmark of its annual film line-up. He produced and starred in the 1999 film Flawless, which told the story of a man and his friendship with a transgender woman. In 2007, De Niro portrayed an openly gay character in Stardust, which received a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Release.
De Niro will next be seen in The Weinstein Company’s boxing film Hands of Stone, on August 26, 2016. He is currently filming The Comedian with director Taylor Hackford, and is in post-production for HBO’s Wizard of Lies, in which he is starring and is executive producer.
“Through his work honouring the memory of his openly gay father, Robert De Niro has not only sent a message of acceptance to LGBT people, but also educated audiences of the harms of anti-LGBT prejudice and discrimination,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “He is a tireless advocate who has helped bring to the world LGBT storylines that spark dialogue, build support, and encourage understanding.”
Additional special guests and honourees for the GLAAD Media Awards in New York will be announced.
In January, GLAAD announced 101 nominees in 20 English-language categories and 46 Spanish-language nominees in 11 categories. Nominees for the 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards can be found here:
http://www.glaad.org/mediaawards/nominees.
