Robert De Niro received a standing ovation at this year's Tony Awards for cursing US President Donald Trump on stage but the audience at home was unable to hear the expletive from the veteran actor as the CBS network beeped it out.


According to the channel, the 74-year-old actor, who took to the stage to introduce Bruce Springsteen's performance at Radio City Music Hall, went off script in his remarks. The masses could not hear De Niro shouting "F** Trump" as the CBS Program Practices executive monitoring the show used the discretion to push a delete button to drop audio entirely from the telecast, Variety reported.


The network also issued a statement acknowledging beeping out the Oscar-winning actor's remarks that read: "Mr De Niro's comments were unscripted and unexpected. The offensive language was deleted from the broadcast."


De Niro introduced Springsteen praised Springsteen's Broadway show and said, "Bruce, you can rock the house like nobody else and even more important in these perilous times, you rock the vote always fighting for truth, transparency, and integrity in government. Boy, do we need that now."


Springsteen, who was honoured with a special award for his blockbuster solo show 'Springsteen on Broadway' at the 2018 Tonys, made a rare live television appearance and performed the piano solo of "My Hometown". -- PTI


Image: A file pic of Robert de Niro with Anupam Kher.