Robert De Niro took to the witness stand on Tuesday during the civil trial for a four-year legal battle that has been going on between the legendary actor and a former employee.
De Niro was brought up to the stand on Tuesday in New York City (via Deadline), where he was asked a litany of questions about his time as the employer of Graham Chase Robinson. While being questioned about his behavior with Robinson, De Niro seemed to brush off any suggestions that he was not cordial with anyone.
“Give me a break with this stuff,” De Niro said toward the end of his second day of fielding questions from the lawyer, Andrew Macurdy. “You got us all here for this?”
“I don’t take liberties with people who work for me,” De Niro went on to say, while noting that the trial was “so ridiculous, I don’t know what to say…She implies that she’s out in front of the building on her knees scrubbing the floor.”
Despite the denial of lewdness, De Niro did admit that he had, at times, “berated” Robinson. According to a report from the trial from People, De Niro acknowledged he had called Robinson names, but never yelled at anyone.
“Yeah, fine, I berated her,” said De Niro, while also acknowledging that he had called Robinson “petulant,” “snippy” and a “f——g spoiled brat” at times.
“I’ve raised my voice,” De Niro said. “I don’t yell. You wanna dispute that? That’s one thing I don’t do.”
What is the situation between Robert De Niro and Graham Chase Robinson?
In 2008, Robinson began working as an executive assistant to De Niro, and would end up as the Vice President for Production and Finance at De Niro’s Canal Productions by 2019, when she left the company.
After leaving, the company sued Robinson for $6 million, alleging that she would spend her work days watching Netflix, charged personal meals and other items to the company’s credit card, and most importantly, had transferred more than $450,000 in airline miles from the company to herself as she left.
As a result, Robinson counter-sued Canal Productions for $12 million. In her lawsuit, Robinson alleged that De Niro and the production company was in violation of New York City’s Human Rights Law, and said that the legendary actor had directed sexist comments at her, and had also forced her to do “stereotypically female job duties that were inconsistent with her job title,” (via People) all while paying her less.
