Robert De Niro’s former employee characterizes his behavior as “creepy” on the stand
De Niro's ex-employee accused him of making her do gendered tasks and making sexually-charged comments, among other allegations
Aux News Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro’s workplace discrimination trial continued today as Graham Chase Robinson, the actor’s former employee who brought the suit against him, officially took the stand.
In a suit that’s been pending for years, Robinson—who started working as De Niro’s executive assistant in 2008 when she was 25 years old—alleged that for years the actor treated her as an “office wife” and subjected her to “gratuitous unwanted physical contact” and “sexually-charged comments,” and “assigned her stereotypically female duties like housework,” all while “insist[ing] that she be available to him around the clock.” She also alleged that the Killers Of The Flower Moon actor made her “scratch his back, button his shirts, fix his collars, tie his ties, and prod him awake when he was in bed,” among other things, even after she was promoted to the role of vice president of production and finance at his Canal Productions company in 2017. (You can read more background of the trial here.)
In her testimony, Robinson gave a little more detail on some of the tasks she allegedly had to perform for De Niro before she resigned. Per Variety, Robinson reiterated her claim that she had to be on call 24/7, 365 days a year, even when she was on vacation (despite De Niro’s previous claim that she kept regular hours (per Deadline)). During this time, she says she was expected to maintain the actor’s schedule, buy his meals, and keep track of his family’s birthdays and anniversaries so she could buy gifts when he forgot. One of these times, when the actor couldn’t locate a gift he had purchased, Robinson says he called her a bitch. “It was very demeaning [and] incredibly hurtful to hear that from your boss,” she said. She also alleged that he called her a bitch a second time when she asked to be removed as De Niro’s emergency contact after a small fire occurred in his townhouse. Apparently, the actor responded to this request by telling her she was “acting like a little bitch.”
Robinson also addressed allegations that De Niro repeatedly asked her to scratch his back. When she suggested he use a back scratcher instead, the actor allegedly said “I like the way you do it,” which Robinson said felt “creepy” and “disgusting.”
Elsewhere in her testimony, Robinson said that De Niro maintained a policy that allowed her to use unlimited SkyMiles (a previous point of contention), that he tried to get her to work on his townhouse because interior design was “a good skill for her to have” even though she wanted to work in production at the time, and that she actually resigned and said her last day would be in December 2018, but De Niro requested she continue working through the following summer as well as Christmas 2019 to assist with buying gifts. Robinson feared the actor could “destroy” her career if he didn’t give her a recommendation, which she requested upon her resignation, she said.
De Niro himself took the stand earlier this week, during which he denied many of his ex-employee’s allegations and even shouted “Shame on you, Chase Robinson!” at one point during approximately five hours of testimony.
24 Comments
I do not know all the details about this story and what happened between her and De Niro but from what I’ve read in the article, the only thing that feels out of place/weird/creepy is the back scratching and perhaps the waking him up.
She was straightening his ties or bow ties or collars and helping him button up his shirts? That sounds pretty standard in the realm of an actor doing red carpets, events, premiers and so on.
Calling her a bitch wasn’t nice, that’s for sure.
I agree. This all sounds like a money grab, built on the back of #MeToo.If she’s staying in New York, LA or wherever she was employed and he’s traveling around the world, his personal assistant seems like an obvious person for the alarm company to contact and if there were a burglary or a fire, it would have been her job to secure the premises and act as a go-between with the fire department or the police, especially if he was somewhere else. No matter where he was, you’d think it would be the personal assistant’s job to file the insurance claim.As for the waking him up, I guess that could be somewhere near the line, but if they were working from his place or if he was going to take a quick nap on the couch in his office, it could have been as simple as him saying, “I’m going to take a quick nap. If I’m not up in time for the phone call at three, please speak to me”.The back scratching, yeah… but if he felt they had a friendly relationship and if she did it without or with only minimal, maybe even kind of jokey complaint and if it was just his back… I’m sure he’ll either never ask an assistant to do it again or he’ll put it in their contract as something they might be asked to do.
I kinda agree. Based on what I’ve read.
It is strange but overall I think one big problem would be what happened after she was promoted to “vice president of production and finance at his Canal Productions” and was still treated like a personal assistant.
it really depends what the actual job implies. A title doesn’t really mean anything in itself.
Disgruntled ex-employee slanders celebrity in frivolous lawsuit. Got it.
that’s really what it looks like, at least from what I have read. I’m sure De Niro wasn’t always the greatest guy but I have a feeling that if he yelled something along the lines of ‘’ shame on you ‘’ to her ex-employee during the trial, there might be some reason for her to be ashamed.
Deniro (and everyone else for that matter) isn’t going to fuck you.
That’s a shame cuz I’ve heard he can lick asshole like nobody’s business.
A lot of this stuff sounds like stuff I assumed assistants to celebrities and executives always do? Maybe I’m not clear where the line is drawn on assistant work but very little of her description of her job sounds out-of-bounds to what I expected.
I worked as an assistant for a doctor on the UES and never had to help that person get dressed. I supported two executives working in the CRE part of a big bank, never had to help them get dressed or wake them up. It IS pretty weird in my opinion. Most men, even executives, straighten their own ties. Why would you need someone to button your shirt, shirts button in the front. You can do it yourself. If she was working for an actress who needed help zipping dresses – zippers are usually in the back, MAYBE I’d get it. She’s also not a stylist/wardrobe person – she’s an assistant. Assistants like, type letters. Address correspondence. Pick up coffee. I just don’t get this.
Were any if the people you assisted 80 years old though? Those seem like tasks that an old person could very well need help with
Yeah, presumably you ARE on-call 365 days a year, but very well-compensated for it. Even the back-scratching thing – at first in the article it sounded like she’d actually have to make physical contact with him, but later clarifies it was with a backscratcher which is really quite different.
Before “Meet the Fockers,” I would say DeNiro was innocent. Now, I’m not sure.
Ew. Have you seen Once Upon A Time In America? The one might give you some unwelcome ideas too.
Yeah, none of this sounds that unusual. Don’t want to do petty tasks, don’t work as an assistant for someone with a big ego. The only one I have an issue with is the back scratching. That is just ewww. The rest? That is just the job. Take a different one.
He should hire a male asistant.
That’d be weird.
Why, because shouldn’t it be easier for a male to anticipate his male employer’s needs? Or is the idea of a (presumably) younger guy waiting on another guy hand and foot just too much for you?
Not so long ago it was de rigueur for a man of wealth and taste to have a dresser (go ahead and Google that) or “valet.”What’s weird is expecting a 20-something woman to ‘nanny’ an old guy who obviously has a creepy side.Or you’re just trolling, as usual.
ain’t no dude scratchin’ my back, baby.
Now she’s heading off to her interview for Russel Brand’s new personal assistant.
Can’t she just say no to the weird requests, like back-scratching? Did she really worry that he’d make life hell for her?
“gendered tasks”? she could have just quit, right?
It sounds like he’s a bit of a shitty boss, but I’m really not seeing what here is illegal and warranting a day in court.