Robert De Niro gives amazing graduation speech to NYU grads

Robert De Niro gives amazing graduation speech to NYU grads
Robert De Niro gave a speech to the New York University Tisch School of the Arts' commencement telling the students they would have a hard time finding jobs after graduation. But then said when it com

Double Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro told NYU’s art school grads Friday congratulations and then quickly added, “You’re f-----.”

And the word he used was definitely not Focker.

De Niro’s startling and salty commencement speech for the Tisch School of Arts were greeted with loud applause as the grinning actor gave the graduates a reality check.

“The school of medicine graduates, each will get a job,” he said.

So will the law school grads and if they don’t “who cares, they’re lawyers,” he said. “Teachers, they’ll be working, s----- jobs and lousy pay, but they will be working.”

But you are “opening a door to a lifetime of rejection,” he said.

De Niro said one piece of advice he gave his kids was “never attend the Tisch School for Arts” and to major in accounting.

But then he added, “when it comes to the arts, passion should trump common sense.”

“Your path is clear,” he told the grads. “You have to keep working.”

De Niro said he heard “Valium and Vicodin” are good at easing the pain of rejection. He joked that even he has to deal with that, noting that he didn’t get to play Dr. Martin Luther King in “Selma.”

“I could have played the hell out of that part,” he said.

A proud New Yorker, De Niro won Academy Awards for his roles in “The Godfather Part II” and “Raging Bull” and is considered one of the finest actors of his generation. He is also well known for his comedic turns in movies like “Meet the Fockers.”

Wrapping up, De Niro said he intends to pass out his resume and head shots to newly graduated directors in the room.

“I know you’re gonna make it,” he said. “Break a leg. Next!”

De Niro’s speech got two thumbs up from the grads.

“I tell myself I'm f----- too,” said 24-year-old Valerie Lee.

“We were all laughing and clapping," said Seung Hyun Hwang, 29. "He gave us really helpful advice

Jake Goldstein admitted he was shocked when De Niro dropped the first F-bomb.

“I thought it was funny because he’s known to be kind of a crass guy,” said Goldstein, 24, who was rushing to catch a train to Connecticut, where he is appearing in a Shakespeare play. “I do have a job right now!”

“He was just being honest,” added 22-year-old Jamie Jensen. “We were all just laughing. It's so true in a way — we all joke about it. You know it going in to art school."

Jensen’s mom, however, was not amused.

"It was right at the beginning — first line,” said Maria Jensen, 54, who is from Mount Bethel, Pa. “You don’t really want to use the F-bomb in front of thousands of people. That’s just my take.”