Actor Robert De Niro shouted “Shame on you” as he gave evidence in a New York courtroom, directing the comments towards his former executive assistant and vice president who is seeking millions of dollars after accusing her former boss of being abusive.
Graham Chase Robinson watched with her lawyers while Mr De Niro’s anger built as lawyer Andrew Macurdy pelted him with some tabloid-style accusations his client made about De Niro’s behaviour towards Ms Robinson as she served his needs, large and small, from 2008 until several months into 2019.
Ms Robinson, 41, is seeking 12 million dollars (£9.9 million) in damages for emotional distress and reputational harm that she claims has left her jobless and unable to recover from the trauma of her job.
She was being paid 300,000 dollars (£247,000) annually when she quit, frustrated by her interactions with Mr De Niro’s girlfriend and the effect she believed it was having on the actor.
The jury is also considering evidence pertaining to a lawsuit Mr De Niro filed against Ms Robinson in which he claimed that she stole things from him, including five million points that could be used for airline flights.
Mr De Niro is seeking the return of three years of Ms Robinson’s salary.
Mr Macurdy asked Mr De Niro whether it was true that he sometimes urinated as he spoke to Ms Robinson on the telephone.
“That’s nonsense,” Mr De Niro answered. “You got us all here for this?”
Mr Macurdy told Mr De Niro he called Ms Robinson “b**** to her face”.
“I was never abusive, ever,” the actor snapped back, though he conceded that he might have used the word in conversations with her.
And the claim that he told Ms Robinson he preferred that she scratch his back rather than using a back scratching device drew another angry rebuke from Mr De Niro, who said it might have happened once or twice, but “never was with disrespect or lewdness”.
Finally, he angrily looked towards Ms Robinson and shouted: “Shame on you, Chase Robinson!”
Quickly, he blurted an apology in a quieter voice, as he glanced towards Judge Lewis J Liman.
Mr De Niro, 80, has won two Oscars in a six-decade film career that has featured memorable roles in movies including The Deer Hunter and Raging Bull.
Currently, he is in Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon.
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