HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 27: Robert De Niro attends the 92nd Oscars Nominees Luncheon on January 27, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
On Monday, Robert De Niro testified in the lawsuit against his former assistant, Graham Chase Robinson.
De Niro was the first to take the stand in the New York City federal courthouse. The legal battle began in 2019, when Robinson left the actor’s company, Canal Productions, after being promoted to vice president for production and finance.
Canal Productions filed a $6 million lawsuit against Robinson, claiming that she abused her position and negligently used “her employer’s fund for her personal gain.”
Robinson counter-sued De Niro and the company for $12 million, claiming that De Niro consistently made sexist comments and assigned her “stereotypically female job duties that were inconsistent with her job title.”
She also claimed that he paid her less than a male employee because of her gender.
“He would berate her. He would make her life difficult,” Robinson’s lawyer Brent Hannafan told the jury about the actor. “He called her a b—- to her face repeatedly.”
Hannafan also told the jury that De Niro once asked Robinson to “scratch his back.”
Under cross examination, De Niro admitted that had made the request, saying, “You got me!’
“Shame on you, Chase Robinson,” he added.
While on the stand, De Niro said that Robinson was “unacceptable as an employee,” claiming that her working hours “were civilized” and accusing Robinson’s lawyers of “making it out like I controlled her.”
Robinson will be taking the stand next. The jury will also hear from De Niro’s lawyer Tom Harvey, his accountant Michael Tasche and several employees who worked at Canal Productions between 2008 and 2019.
In July, De Niro lost his grandson to an opioid overdose.
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