Since October 30th, two lawsuits involving Robert De Niro (80) and a former employee of the Hollywood star have been heard in court in the New York district of Manhattan. In his statement in court on Tuesday, the actor repeatedly described the whole thing as “nonsense,” as the industry magazine “The Hollywood Reporter” reports.
“The whole case is nonsense. It’s absurd. But I’m here,” De Niro explained when questioned by the plaintiff’s lawyer. The actor’s former assistant claims in her lawsuit that she was subjected to discrimination and harassment because of her gender. He subjected her to unwanted physical contact and, among other things, asked her to scratch his back. De Niro also made “sexually charged comments” and assigned her “stereotypically feminine tasks such as housework.” She was also not paid sufficiently and there was no compensation for countless overtime hours.
On Tuesday it was also discussed that De Niro had, among other things, asked his ex-assistant to bring her a martini around 11 p.m. and that he had even called her twice while she was at the funeral of a family member. However, the actor denied knowing that the woman was at a funeral at the time.
Meanwhile, in a previous lawsuit, De Niro accused his former employee of, among other things, paying restaurant bills at the expense of his company Canal Productions or spending “astronomical amounts of time” watching Netflix while at work. When asked whether he had initially filed a lawsuit knowing that it would generate media attention and possibly damage the plaintiff’s reputation, De Niro replied during the trial: “Stop it, I didn’t want to ruin anything. That’s what I did I don’t have time.”
The woman should be ashamed, De Niro finally said towards the end of the questioning directly to his former assistant after he was asked whether he had treated her badly. The allegations made by De Niro and his company were also addressed. In the months before the woman resigned, she allegedly took five million accumulated frequent flyer miles from the company card and refused to give them back. The Hollywood star pointed out several times on Tuesday that he wanted them back: “That’s all I ask: give the things back, give back the airline miles.”
De Niro’s company Canal Productions had already sued the ex-assistant for at least six million US dollars in 2019. She is demanding at least twelve million dollars in the countersuit. Both cases are being heard in Manhattan. The civil trial is expected to last two weeks.
