_
---
### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/22 "2016-03-27T14:44:09Z")
\*"A statement from Wakefield, the film’s director, and Del Bigtree, its producer, decried De Niro’s decision, saying they didn’t get a chance to defend themselves against critics of the film.
“We have just witnessed yet another example of the power of corporate interests censoring free speech, art and truth,” the statement read. “Tribeca’s action will not succeed in denying the world access to the truth behind the film ‘Vaxxed.’”"\*
[http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/de-niros-tribeca-festival-pulls-anti-vaccination-film-37956060](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/de-niros-tribeca-festival-pulls-anti-vaccination-film-37956060)
Art, baby.
---
### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/23 "2016-03-27T14:45:36Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#):
>
> So, it was Robert DeNiro, I was expecting Donald or Ivanka Trump’s grubby fingers were the ones involved on the push to get that movie in the Festival.
Trump is a pimp. He never could have outfought science. But I didn’t know until this day that it was DeNiro all along.
---
### Author:  [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/24 "2016-03-27T15:06:18Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> I would assume it’s being screened so people can point and laugh. No?
With a bunch of Hollywood-type nuts in the audience? Nah.
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/25 "2016-03-27T18:23:10Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> And now the Tribeca Film Festival has decided **not** to screen Wakefield’s mockumentary.
>
> [http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/03/26/the-tribeca-film-festival-drops-andrew-wakefields-antivaccine-conspiracyfest-documentary/](http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/03/26/the-tribeca-film-festival-drops-andrew-wakefields-antivaccine-conspiracyfest-documentary/)
>
> Apparently DeNiro could handle [“controversy”](http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/robert-de-niro-giving-tribeca-platform-vaccination-fraud-article-1.2578692); [being laughed at](http://www.buzzfeed.com/cbpolis/science-twitter-drags-de-niro-15-funniest-future-29a0x) might have been the final straw.
I’m willing to consider a more charitable view. It’s at least plausible that DeNiro was persuaded by the scientific authorities he was apparently talking with that this film was a reprehensible and dishonest pile of garbage.
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> \*"A statement from Wakefield, the film’s director, and Del Bigtree, its producer, decried De Niro’s decision, saying they didn’t get a chance to defend themselves against critics of the film.
>
> “We have just witnessed yet another example of the power of corporate interests censoring free speech, art and truth,” the statement read. “Tribeca’s action will not succeed in denying the world access to the truth behind the film ‘Vaxxed.’”"\*
>
> [http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/de-niros-tribeca-festival-pulls-anti-vaccination-film-37956060](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/de-niros-tribeca-festival-pulls-anti-vaccination-film-37956060)
>
> Art, baby.
I notice that Wakefield didn’t mention who those “corporate interests” were or precisely how they managed to “censor” his brilliant film. Maybe Big Pharma threatened DeNiro with a giant syringe the size of a harpoon!
> [@lance\_strongarm](#):
>
> With a bunch of Hollywood-type nuts in the audience? Nah.
They’re no nuttier than any other random cross-section of the population. They just have more time on their hands for hobbies and far more people willing to listen to their annoying pontifications.
---
### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2016, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/26 "2016-03-28T18:02:57Z")
Well, one prominent alt loon site (NaturalNews), which has at least 5 articles posted in response to latest developments, tells us that someone “powerful and connected” threatened DeNiro into silence.
One of these articles has the header “Full history exposed: Tribeca Film Festival carrying out Nazi agenda of genocide, eugenics and extermination via ‘science’ and medicine”.
I just don’t understand why ‘medicine’ wasn’t deserving of scare quotes.
\*there is speculation that the Sloan Foundation, which supports the Tribeca Film Institute, providing grants for science/technology-related films, didn’t like Wakefield’s film tainting the festival.
---
### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/27 "2016-03-28T18:51:25Z")
I’d imagine that the Sloan Foundation wouldn’t particularly like this film tainting the festival, and good for them if they don’t.
NaturalNews is a blot on the internet. I see people posting crap from them all of the time on places like Facebook and it’s always misleading at best and laughable nonsense at worst. The problem of course is that it’s not really laughable. Not when it leads people to risk their own health and that of others by ignoring the current findings of medical science.
They’re current headline is:
> [@](#):
>
> BOMBSHELL: Robert De Niro -\> Tribeca Film Festival -\> Sloan Foundation -\> Nazi eugenics -\> Depopulation -\> Vaccines -\> Bill Gates
---
### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/28 "2016-03-28T19:08:46Z")
So, wait. You can transform Robert DeNiro into Bill Gates using film festivals, Nazi eugenics, depopulation and vaccines?
Wow, science these days.
---
### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/29 "2016-03-28T19:26:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Robert De Niro -\> Tribeca Film Festival -\> Sloan Foundation -\> Nazi eugenics -\> Depopulation -\> Vaccines -\> Bill Gates
I assume this is sorted in ascending scale of badness, leading to the ultimate horror named at the end.
The hierarchy makes sense, though I’m having difficulty understanding exactly how it works. Apparently DeNiro supports TFF which promotes the Sloan Foundation which practices Nazi eugenics, thus depopulating the world. So the survivors will then develop vaccines causing them to mutate horribly, until eventually all the remaining humans in the world turn into clones of Bill Gates (who I assume is autistic).
And all because DeNiro changed his mind and TFF pulled the Wakefield film!
---
### Author:  [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/30 "2016-03-28T19:31:47Z")
> [@scabpicker](#):
>
> so, wait. You can transform robert deniro into bill gates using film festivals, nazi eugenics, depopulation and vaccines?
>
> Wow, science these days.
Probably using CRISPR.
---
### Author:  [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/31 "2016-03-28T19:47:46Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#):
>
> Probably using CRISPR.
Now you’re just being silly. How is that drawer at the bottom of my fridge going to transmogrify people?
ETA: I mean, I don’t even fit in it.
---
### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/32 "2016-03-29T03:20:59Z")
> [@scabpicker](#):
>
> Now you’re just being silly. How is that drawer at the bottom of my fridge going to transmogrify people?
>
> ETA: I mean, I don’t even fit in it.
Calvin and Hobbes could transmogrify themselves with a cardboard box with “Transmogrifier” written on it. Clearly the technology has progressed far enough that it can now be fitted to your veggie crisper.
---
### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/33 "2016-03-29T04:43:31Z")
Too bad that fraudulent so-called scientist didn’t get a court order prohibiting him from even being involved in stunts like this “documentary”.
---
### Author:  [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/34 "2016-03-29T13:40:14Z")
> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> I assume this is sorted in ascending scale of badness, leading to the ultimate horror named at the end.
>
> The hierarchy makes sense, though I’m having difficulty understanding exactly how it works. Apparently DeNiro supports TFF which promotes the Sloan Foundation which practices Nazi eugenics, thus depopulating the world. So the survivors will then develop vaccines causing them to mutate horribly, until eventually all the remaining humans in the world turn into clones of Bill Gates (who I assume is autistic).
>
> And all because DeNiro changed his mind and TFF pulled the Wakefield film!
You know, I couldn’t figure how Bill Gates fit in on the end there, but I think you’ve figured it out!
---
### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/35 "2016-03-29T13:49:55Z")
> [@Monty](#):
>
> Too bad that fraudulent so-called scientist didn’t get a court order prohibiting him from even being involved in stunts like this “documentary”.
First Amendment issues. What possible grounds can you put forward to prevent someone from making a (stupid) film?
---
### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/36 "2016-03-29T14:01:49Z")
There’s nothing stopping the good “doctor” from screening the film on his own dime.
It’s amazing to me this dreck is still given the time of day. Although I know there are Holocaust deniers and moon-landing deniers and flat earthers. At least they provide comic relief. I just wish they didn’t hurt so many people as they’re flailing about.
---
### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/37 "2016-03-29T14:02:42Z")
> [@Trinopus](#):
>
> First Amendment issues. What possible grounds can you put forward to prevent someone from making a (stupid) film?
Wakefield should be in prison.
---
### Author:  [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/38 "2016-03-29T15:00:58Z")
He lost his medical license. Why didn’t he go to jail for fraud?
---
### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/39 "2016-03-29T15:33:24Z")
> [@ivylass](#):
>
> He lost his medical license. Why didn’t he go to jail for fraud?
We might need an opinion from U.K. legal experts on that.
According to Brian Deer’s investigation, Wakefield got the equivalent of $750,000 (plus expenses) from a British solicitor funneling money from a U.K. legal aid fund. The solicitor was hoping Wakefield’s research would provide grounds for a whopping lawsuit against vaccine makers. You would think that committing fraud while being paid in taxpayer-derived funds would have legal implications. It seems that consequences for research fraud vary.
[Here’s a case](http://www.nature.com/news/us-vaccine-researcher-sentenced-to-prison-for-fraud-1.17660) where a vaccine researcher was found to have committed fraud resulting in a criminal conviction and jail time (he had received NIH grant money).
---
### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tribeca-film-festival-to-screen-wakefield-anti-vac-film/749890/40 "2016-03-29T21:42:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#):
>
> Wakefield should be in prison.
Maybe…but not for making a film.
(Shit la merde! Don’t make me defend this turd! Everyone’s legal rights are precious, even those of crap-bunnies like Wakefield!)
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