Robert De Niro attacks Donald Trump: 'He's a flat-out blatant racist'

In the run-up to the 2016 US election, Hollywood actor Robert De Niro expressed violent thoughts towards Donald Trump and it looks like the US President hasn't gone up in his esteem in the months since he took office.

Speaking to Deadline, the Dirty Grandpa star launched a scathing attack on the commander-in-chief branding him a "flat-out blatant racist" and a "dumbbell".

"If he was smart, he'd be even more dangerous," De Niro said. "He's dangerous as it is. He's terrible, and a flat-out blatant racist and doubling down on that, and it's good that he does because he's going to sink himself."

Back in October 2016, the Hollywood icon didn't hold back with his assessment of Trump in an on-camera rant filmed as part of a video for the #voteforyourfuture campaign calling him a "pig," a "dog" and a "punk" and before threatening to punch him.

"It makes me so angry that this country has gotten to this point that this fool, this bozo, has wound up where he has. He talks how he wants to punch people in the face? Well, I'd like to punch him in the face."

But despite De Niro's personal opinion of Trump, he doesn't want any condemnation to overshadow next month's Emmys. He is nominated for his first for his lead role as Bernie Madoff in HBO's The Wizard of Lies.

"Even at the Emmys it should be a kind of theme in some way — however, you know, balanced it could be so we're not making it all about that," he explained. "But at this point, we're at a crisis in this country with this fool, who never should have gotten into the position that he's in."

De Niro wouldn't be the first to publically denounce Trump. In May, hip hop icon Nas declared in an open letter for Mass Appeal that politics no longer made sense because a "racist" had been elected.

"We all know a racist is in office," the rapper wrote. "People can talk their sh*t. Comedians can sound racist. People can go through their moments of that sh*t, but when you have the responsibility of being President and you carry on like that, you send a strong message to people outside of your group that they ain't worth sh*t."