Robert De Niro takes the stand as workplace discrimination trial begins

A judge reportedly had to admonish Robert De Niro after things got a little too heated on the witness stand on Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The actor appeared in court amidst a gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by his former personal assistant Graham Chase Robinson, who rose to the position of vice president of production and finance at his company Canal Productions before resigning in 2019. The suit has been pending for four years, and the trial finally commenced this week with De Niro himself called as the first witness.

Some background: Robinson began working for De Niro as his personal assistant in 2008 when she was just 25 years old. Over her years of employment, De Niro treated her as his “office wife,” the suit alleges: “De Niro subjected Ms. Robinson to gratuitous unwanted physical contact. He made sexually-charged comments to her …. assigned her stereotypically female duties like housework, and insisted that she be available to him around the clock,” the suit asserts (via Deadline).

The Oscar winner allegedly had his assistant “scratch his back, button his shirts, fix his collars, tie his ties, and prod him awake when he was in bed.” (Crucially, many of these tasks supposedly continued even after she was made an executive.) Among other alleged inappropriate behaviors (including reportedly calling her a “bitch” and a “brat”), Robinson claims he “stood idly by while his friend slapped Ms. Robinson on her buttocks” and that he “would joke with Ms. Robinson about his Viagra prescription.” He also supposedly “underpaid her because she was not a male breadwinner and denied her overtime pay even though she worked punishingly long hours.”

Meanwhile, DeNiro had filed what Robinson’s team described as an “abusive, preemptive lawsuit” full of “false allegations designed to inhibit Ms. Robinson from pursuing her claims, destroy her reputation, and obliterate her job prospects.” He accused Robinson of misusing company credit cards for personal use, stealing millions of frequent flier miles before her resignation, and binge-watching television on company time. Both Robinson and De Niro have denied each other’s accusations. In opening arguments, Robinson’s lawyer claimed “There was no one more loyal to Canal and Mr. De Niro as Chase Robinson” (per The New York Times).

A specific incident referenced in the trial regards an altercation between Robinson and De Niro’s girlfriend Tiffany Chen, who was reportedly suspicious that Robinson was romantically interested in De Niro. After a conflict between the women over a painting in the actor’s townhouse, Chen reportedly emailed De Niro that “This bitch needs to be put in her fucking place” (per The Hollywood Reporter). Robinson’s lawyers denied she had any romantic interest in De Niro but was pushed out of her work because of Chen’s jealousy; while De Niro’s side conceded that Chen was “sometimes a little opinionated” but denied that any retaliatory action took place.

On the stand, De Niro pushed back on Robinson’s lawyer’s assertion that she was asked to do “anything and everything” for the star. “I asked her to do anything within reason—within the confines of her job,” De Niro “snapped” (as characterized by Deadline). “I don’t know what you’re trying to say. … I don’t like that implication.”

De Niro claimed Robinson kept normal hours and was only called upon during off times if there was a crisis, like an occasion where he fell down the stairs at 4 A.M. He also claimed that, despite being promoted in name to V.P., she was “pushy” in asking for the title and her role at the company hadn’t really changed: “The job is what it is. The titles were not important,” he said (via THR). He further asserted that Robinson was “disrespectful” to Chen, saying, “I wanted everybody to be happy and play nice. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.”

De Niro is scheduled to give testimony on Tuesday, with the trial expected to continue through November 10, according to THR.