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Robert De Niro took the stand in a civil trial in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to resolve a gender discrimination suit filed against the actor and his company Canal Productions by his former assistant, Graham Chase Robinson.
Following jury selection and opening statements Monday, Oct. 30, De Niro spent about 90 minutes on the witness stand and called Robinson’s allegations “all nonsense.” The Killers of the Flower Moon actor claimed he would call Robinson at “civilized” hours only and allowed to to work remotely. “It’s not like I’m telling her to go out and scrape floors, mop floors,” said De Niro, who stated her tasks included scheduling, arranging travel and gift purchases for loved ones.
During his second day on the stand, Oct. 31, De Niro was questioned about his reaction to an alleged incident where Robinson didn’t wake him up in time for an important meeting. De Niro admitted, “Yeah, fine, I berated her,” adding: “I’ve raised my voice. I don’t yell. You wanna dispute that? That’s one thing I don’t do” (via People).
Though De Niro insisted he was “never abusive,” as ET notes, he did acknowledge it was possible there were times when he called Robinson names like “spoiled,” “a brat,” or a “bitch.”
Day two of De Niro’s testimony included a few other surreal moments like when the actor defended calling Robinson twice while she was at her grandmother’s funeral so she could purchase bus tickets for his son. De Niro said that Robinson told him there would be a time when it would be ok for him to call her. “I don’t know if they were putting the body in the ground or at a wake or something,” he said.
De Niro also directly addressed Robinson while on the stand after her attorney pressed him on an accusation that De Niro made Robinson scratch his back. Along with insisting he “was never weird or creepy,” De Niro turned to Robinson and said, “Shame on you, Chase Robinson!”
By Thursday, De Niro’s girlfriend Tiffany Chen took the stand, and according to Vanity Fair, she compared the situation with Robinson to the 1992 film Single White Female, which itself was about a “obsessive, crazy, and dangerous” woman.
“I believed she lived her whole life as a fantasy,” Chen said, per Vanity Fair.
The court displayed texts between Chen and Robinson from October of 2018 during Chen’s testimony as well. “Who the hell are you?!?! We need to repopulate the planet with your DNA… you guys have such a great dynamic and chemistry it comes across so nicely in everything you two do together…. He speaks so glowingly of you and it’s nice to see that even his most complimentary moments have done you justice,” Chen wrote, per People. During her testimony, Chen said that the messages were “largely sarcastic.”
Robinson alleged in her suit that she was tasked with doing things beyond her job description, but as the outlet reported, Chen claimed Thursday that it was Robinson’s choice, and that she “wanted to be everywhere with him.”
Chen sent messages to De Niro in 2018 about Robinson’s alleged “demented imaginary intimacy,” People notes, with Chen further stating she felt Robinson wanted a romantic relationship with De Niro. “She’s crazy,” Chen said, according to People. “She was attached to the control she felt she had in this dynamic. If her fantasy is going to infringe on my personal life and she was in the office, of course I’m going to [acknowledge the behavior]. It’s too weird.”
The legal fight began in 2019 after Canal Productions filed a $6 million suit against Robinson, who was hired as the actor’s assistant in 2008 and later promoted to “vice president of production and finance” at Canal. Robinson resigned from the company in April 2019 amid growing concerns of “company sabotage.” Her salary at the time, according to the suit, was $300,000. The suit alleges that she binge-watched Netflix while on the job and that she used company funds for personal expenditures.
Robinson responded with a suit of her own against De Niro and Canal Productions, alleging violations of the New York City Human Rights Law. Her suit claims that De Niro made sexist comments and conduct towards her, and assigned her “stereotypically female job duties that were inconsistent with her job title.” It also claims she was paid less than a male employee due to gender-based stereotypes, and that De Niro and Canal allowed Chen “to target her with false accusations about a romantic interest in De Niro,” which led to her being stripped of her job duties in retaliation, according to a statement from the law firm representing Robinson, Sanford Heisler Sharp. Robinson is suing the actor for $12 million in damages for severe emotional distress and reputational harm.
“Ms. Robinson is ready to tell her story to the jury,” Brent Hannafan, who presented the opening statement at the trial, said in the press release. “Her discrimination and retaliation claims are compelling and the evidence supporting them is clear. We believe when all the testimony has been heard, the jury will agree with us that De Niro discriminated and retaliated against Ms. Robinson.”
This story was updated 11/02/2023 @ 7 p.m. ET with details from De Niro’s girlfriend Tiffany Chen’s testimony.
