Robert De Niro, announced as the winner of the NAB’s Leadership Foundation’s Service to America Leadership Award on May 28, will not get the award. The NAB noted that the June 4 awards event is “proudly bipartisan,” and said the actor’s “recent high-profile activities will create a distraction.”

De Niro clashed that day with supporters of Donald Trump outside the New York courthouse where the former president’s trial is going on. 

“The Celebration of Service to America Awards is dedicated to honoring the vital local journalism and public service that local radio and television stations provide to their communities,” the NAB said in a statement. “This event is proudly bipartisan, uniting those from across the political spectrum to celebrate the impactful work of local broadcasters and our partners.

“While we strongly support the right of every American to exercise free speech and participate in civic engagement, it is clear that Mr. De Niro’s recent high-profile activities will create a distraction from the philanthropic work that we were hoping to recognize. To maintain the focus on service of the award winners, Mr. De Niro will no longer be attending the event.“

The Service to America Leadership Award is presented in recognition of charitable work and public service. The awards event takes place at The Anthem in Washington June 4. 

“We look forward to a night of celebration honoring the exceptional work of broadcasters and our partners who make a difference in their communities every day,” the NAB said. 

Robert De Niro will get the 2024 Service to America Leadership Award from the National Association of Broadcasters Leadership Foundation. The award is presented in recognition of charitable work and public service. De Niro will be honored at the Celebration of Service to America Awards event at The Anthem in Washington June 4. 

“The NAB Leadership Foundation is excited to honor Robert De Niro’s decades-long commitment to his community and the film industry,” said Foundation president and CEO Michelle Duke. “We look forward to celebrating exemplary public service by local broadcasters and award winners at the 2024 Celebration of Service to America Awards in June.”

De Niro’s film work includes Raging Bull, The Godfather Part II, Cape Fear, Casino, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon. He cofounded the Tribeca Festival, a film, TV and music fest which launched in 2001 in an effort to help New York recover from Sept. 11. He’s on the board of the 9/11 Museum and Memorial.

NABLF said the Tribeca Festival “champions emerging and established voices, discovers award-winning talent, curates innovative experiences, and introduces new ideas through exclusive premieres, exhibitions, conversations and live performances.”

De Niro is also part of FilmAid's Global Artists Council, which uses film and media to provide lifesaving information, psychological relief and hope to refugees and other communities in need.

De Niro is also a supporter of The Community, an organization that engages Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, famous artists and international media for peace-building and human rights.

Previous recipients of the Service to America Leadership Award include former first ladies Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan, chef and humanitarian José Andrés, artist Patti LaBelle, Hamilton creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, singer-songwriter John Legend, country music star Sara Evans and rock star Jon Bon Jovi.

The Celebration of Service to America Awards also honor TV and radio stations and groups across the country for their public service and philanthropic efforts. 

Actor Hank Azaria once again steps onto the scripted series field, this time as a boozing, down-on-his-luck minor-league baseball announcer in IFC’s new comedy series Brockmire.

Azaria, who lends his voice to Fox’s long-running animated hit The Simpsons and more recently appeared in Showtime’s Ray Donovan, spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the new show and his love for sports-themed projects, as well as the opportunities for creating content in a competitive, multiplatform television industry. An edited transcript follows.

MCN:How did you come up with the concept for Brockmire?
Hank Azaria: It’s an idea that I’ve had in one way, shape or form since I was a teenager — the idea of a baseball announcer and whether they really sound in real life like they do during a broadcast. We did a short at Funny or Die about it a few years ago, and that went well, but once [Brockmire writer Joel Church-Cooper] started writing them and fleshing them out, it really came to life.

Related: IFC's 'Brockmire' Trailer

MCN:With scripted sports shows, is there a fine line you have to walk between providing authentic sports action to cater to sports fans while keeping it entertaining for nonsports fans?
HA: When it’s done well, it’s amazing, and those are some of my favorite movies like The Bad News Bears or Slapshot or Hoosiers. Joel and I share a huge love of the sport, of broadcasters, of movies and of TV shows like that. Baseball is a metaphor for the aging — and maybe dying — America, and Joel is able to capture that and make it funny in the embodiment of this man that gets caught up in nostalgia — forget about 1978 for him, but 1948. Some of the best sports stuff does that; it realizes how the sport is a metaphor for something bigger.

MCN:Was this the perfect time to pitch Brockmire, given the number of distribution platforms and outlets available to content providers?
HA: Yes. There’s more and more competition as more people realize that cable in particular is a great place to creatively do what you want to do. A show like this could not have existed maybe even five years ago — certainly not 10 years ago — and definitely not on a [broadcast] network, just for language alone. I’ve been wanting to make shows like this for years, so it’s very gratifying to be able to do it.

Related > MCN Review: 'Brockmire' Takes a Swing for the Fences

MCN:Having done both television and movies, do you find working on a scripted series easier or harder than on a theatrical film?
HA: Shooting is shooting, especially nowadays where everything is so good on cable. I’ve done movies that are a lot worse that what we see on cable now — it all feels very creative.

MCN:What other projects are you working on?
HA: Hopefully we’ll do season two of this, and I have a movie coming out on HBO with [Robert] De Niro called The Wizard of Lies about the Bernie Madoff scandal. I also have a movie coming out called Norman with Richard Gere, and, of course, The Simpsons always.