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Legendary actor Robert De Niro has been sued for gender discrimination and retaliation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The trial against De Niro and his loan-out company, Canal Productions, began on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The actor took the stand as the first witness.
The lawsuit was brought by Graham Chase Robinson, a former VP of production and finance at Canal. She accused De Niro of having made “vulgar, inappropriate and gendered comments” to her. Other accusations she levied against the Killers of the Flower Moon star were underpayment based on her gender, overworking her and calling her a “spoiled brat” in a profanity-laden voicemail.
Robinson also alleged that she was asked to perform gendered tasks, such as mending clothing and doing laundry, even though she was an executive.
Robert De Niro: Old school?
The complaint stated, “Robert De Niro is someone who has clung to old mores.”
“He does not accept the idea that men should treat women as equals. He does not care that gender discrimination in the workplace violates the law. Ms. Robinson is a casualty of this attitude,” the complaint continued.
The retaliation charges against the actor come from correspondences and interactions with Tiffany Chen, De Niro's girlfriend. Robinson claimed that Chen forced her out of her job. She further claimed that this was due to Chen's jealousy of Robinson's interactions with the actor.
Robinson originally asked for $12 million in damages. This lawsuit, filed in July 2021, was after a $6 million suit against Robinson by De Niro's Canal Productions filed in August 2019. The case against Robinson was that she allegedly abused company credit cards and while on the job, binged “astounding hours of TV shows.”
Her lawyers claimed that the suit against Robinson was in retaliation for her resignation from Canal Productions and informing De Nitro that she was thinking of suing him for gender discrimination.
When De Niro took the stand, he pushed back on questions asked by Robison's lawyers. At one point, both parties started raising their voices. Judge Lewis J. Liman reportedly had to tell them to lower their voices.
The judge told the actor, “You don't need to subscribe or not subscribe, you just need to answer the question.”
De Niro's testimony and cross-examination by his lawyers is expected to continue on Tuesday, Oct. 31. The trial is set to last until Nov. 10.
