80-year-old Robert De Niro let out his inner character actor, perhaps also mistaking himself for a set, and exclaimed, looking at her, "Shame on you, Chase Robinson !”.
It happens that it was not a shoot, that the scene was something as real as a federal court in Manhattan, specifically, the platform from which he testified, and the alluded to, Graham Chase Robinson, was his former assistant, with whom he has been in a legal battle for the past four years, in which accusations have crossed. Robinson, 41, said she had been mistreated and undervalued for being a woman. At the same time, De Niro and his company, Canal Productions, complained that she had taken thousands of dollars (at least 85,000 in air miles) or had wasted large sums.
On Thursday, after five hours of deliberation, the seven members of the jury in this civil case did not find responsibility in De Niro for the alleged abuse of the former adviser. But they did consider that Canal Productions had discriminated against her because she was a woman, because she had been assigned to do "stereotypically feminine jobs", such as washing the star's sheets and doing domestic work in her house, like a maid , despite the fact that he had risen in the company's hierarchy. The company must compensate him with 1.3 million dollars.
The actor had to spend three days in court, and two testifying, in this trial that has lasted two weeks. When the verdict was read Thursday afternoon, De Niro was not in court.
