Actor Robert De Niro sued tech billionaire Elon Musk for $100 million after Musk’s remarks about him allegedly resulted in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences banning and removing De Niro from all Oscar nominations in 2025.

A rumor making the rounds online in March 2025 claimed Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro sued tech billionaire Elon Musk, an adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, for $100 million.

For example, a popular Facebook post (archived) from March 6 read, “BREAKING: Robert De Niro Sues Elon Musk For 100 Million Dollars After Elon’s Remarks Got Him Banned And Removed From All 2025 Oscars Nominations!” The post, receiving thousands of engagements, displayed two pictures showing De Niro and a red “X” crossing out several Academy Award statues, commonly known as Oscars.

Numerous other users also spread the rumor about De Niro and Musk on Bluesky, Facebook, Threads and X.

However, there was no evidence of De Niro suing Musk for $100 million or of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences punishing De Niro in relation to the Academy Awards. Represenatives for De Niro did not yet respond to a request for comment.

One of the earliest posts (archived) that promoted the false rumor appeared on the @entertainment.newsdaily Threads account on March 4. The manager of the Threads account previously posted additional untrue claims relating to Musk and other famous people in the entertainment industry.

The post’s top comment featured a link to an advertisement-filled article on news.xyno.online. The story, possibly originating from amazingtoday.net, displayed a headline similar to the text from the post, and began as follows:

Hollywood and the technology world have just been shaken by a blockbuster case when Robert de Niro, the legend of the screen, officially filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, the billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, with the amount of compensation for up to $100 million. The case was submitted to the California Supreme Court in late February 2025, just a few days after the 97th Oscars took place without the presence of De Niro — for the first time in decades. The reason stemming from a controversial statement of Musk, is said to have led to the ban on attendance and the name of De Niro’s name from all the nominations of the Academy.

It started when Musk posted a tweet in mid-January, called De Niro “a fake moral man” and called on the Oscars “to eliminate those who only know how to preach.” This tweet came immediately after De Niro publicly criticized Musk in an interview, related to his influence in American politics. Shortly thereafter, the Academy suddenly announced that De Niro was banned from attending the awards ceremony and was not considered for any Oscars 2025 nomination, although he had just finished the main role in a highly rated film. De Niro’s legal team argued that Musk’s speech caused unnecessary pressure to the Academy, leading to a serious reputation and financial damage to the 81-year-old actor.

Searches of DuckDuckGo, Google, Yahoo and other websites produced no results confirming Musk called De Niro, who frequently publicly opposes Trump and his politics, “a fake moral man” who influenced the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences “to eliminate those who only know how to preach.” Musk did, however, post on X that he believed De Niro “is out of touch with the people,” and once asked, “How did De Niro survive Trump’s first term? Must be a miracle.”

Snopes has addressed similar claims about De Niro and Musk in the past, including the assertion that former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal threw De Niro out of a restaurant and a rumor that Musk sued “The View” cohost Whoopi Goldberg.