The screams, accusations and insults as “petulant”, “brutal” and “spoiled brat whore” have cost Robert de Niro dearly. The 80-year-old interpreter was ordered by a Manhattan court to pay $1.26 million (1.35 million euros) in compensation to his assistant of ten years, Graham Chase Robinson, 41. Specifically, the jury holds Canal Productions, the actor’s company, responsible for two crimes: gender discrimination and retaliation. Additionally, Robinson was cleared of any financial wrongdoing during her 11-year association with the actor.
De Niro and Chase Robinson sued each other in 2019, and now it’s time for the trial, which has taken place over several days in New York since October 30. The verdict came a little earlier than expected. Toro Salvaje’s interpreter went to court three times, in which his former assistant also appeared, and finally he has to compensate her with two payments totaling 632,142 dollars (592,633 euros), the Associated Press agency reports. This Thursday he wasn’t present, but she was, and she seemed happy as she hugged her paralegals after hearing the verdict, according to Deadline. “The jury saw the same thing as Ms. Robinson,” they congratulated themselves. She demanded $12 million, which De Niro’s lawyers also welcomed; Furthermore, he was not personally charged, but his company was.
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In 2008, De Niro hired Chase Robinson to handle his personal affairs, schedule, property management and daily errands. In 2017, he even promoted her to vice president of his company. A year later, in 2018, she bought an apartment in New York’s Upper West Side and tried to get her assistant and partner Tiffany Chen to decorate it together, but things didn’t go as expected. Chen began telling De Niro that he noticed a romantic interest in the employee. “She realized there was something there and she was probably right,” the actor said in court. “I wanted everything to work, for everyone to be happy and for everything to work.”
Graham Chase Robinson, former assistant to Robert De Niro, arrives at the trial in New York. David Dee Delgado (Getty Images)
Then came the mutual accusations. De Niro stated that his employee wanted to grow in the company, so he promoted her and tripled her salary (she started earning $300,000 a year, about 280,000 euros) without taking on much more responsibility. The accusations also began: He claimed that Robinson kept more than $450,000 worth of airline points that he had purchased for the company (although he later admitted that there were no strict rules regarding those miles), and that while Watched Netflix during work hours. Over four days in January 2019, he reportedly watched 55 episodes of Friends, 20 of Arrested Development and 10 of Schitt’s Creek during his work hours.
She countered with accusations that went much further. He states that he experiences episodes of severe emotional distress that do not allow him to find another job – despite applying to 638 positions during this time -, leave the house or have a social life as he was subjected to “gender-based harassment”. ” She says that De Niro assigned her “stereotypically feminine tasks that were incompatible with the position” of vice president, such as scratching her back or vacuuming, and that the actor yelled at her, called her “unpleasant names” and “gratuitous and unwanted physical contact.” with her. “All these things he’s throwing at me are nonsense!” De Niro shouted at the hearing. “Shame on you, Chase Robinson.”
Finally, De Niro admitted in the trial that he occasionally insulted her but never behaved in an offensive manner. In a leaked audio recording, the actor can be heard screaming at her after he found out she was in Spain while he was in the US. In it you can hear several shouts of “Fuck you!”, which speak of a “spoiled brat whore”. ” and accusations: “You don’t give me any damn respect!” “No matter what you do, you still want a damn job!” On the witness stand she said: “I feel so humiliated and ashamed and I felt so judged, so hurt felt… I lost my life.” I lost my career. I have lost my financial independence. I lost everything”.