'God da**it!' Robert De Niro yells abuse at former assistant in court after asking her to 'scratch his back' in $12m trial

Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro arrives at court in New York

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Alex Davies

By Alex Davies


Published: 01/11/2023

- 09:52

Updated: 01/11/2023

- 11:23

The 80-year-old actor is on trial following allegations of gender discrimination

Robert De Niro failed to hide his frustrations during the second day of the trial between him and former personal assistant Graham Chase Robinson in a courtroom in Manhattan.

De Niro, 80, has been embroiled in a four-year-long legal battle with Chase Robinson, 41, after she alleged he discriminated against her because of her gender.


Chase Robinson alleges that De Niro viewed her as an "office wife" and would often task her with menial jobs like fetching his drinks, washing bed sheets, and scratching his back.

In fact, during the trial and when the issue of back-scratching was brought up by Chase Robinson's legal team, De Niro fumed: "Okay, twice? You got me!

"I'm saying this is nonsense. It was never done with any disrespect," the Godfather star raged.

In another outburst from the stand after growing frustrated with the line of questioning, De Niro reportedly yelled: "Shame on you, Chase Robinson! God da**it! I'm sorry."

Graham Chase Robinson

Graham Chase Robinson arrives in court

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Chase Robinson began working for De Niro 15 years ago in 2008 and worked her way up from his assistant to vice-president of his production company, Canal Productions.

But as part of her gender discrimination lawsuit, Chase Robinson is seeking $12million in damages for what she claims was reputational harm and severe emotional distress.

The trial isn't solely focussing on the allegations levelled at De Niro, however, as Canal Productions has also launched a lawsuit of its own against Chase Robinson.

De Niro alleges that his former assistant improperly spent funds while working for him through company accounts, specifically focussing on an alleged $450,000 worth of air miles which were transferred from the company account to her own.

Canal also alleges that Chase Robinson would spend much of her working time watching TV as well as spending company money on personal artefacts, food and travel.

On day two of the trial, De Niro faced probes about allegedly using abusive language, performing unwanted physical advances and using misogynistic behaviour towards his former employee.

De Niro continued to grow irate after owning up to the back-scratching allegations as he also acknowledged he had ordered Robinson to perform the task of using Uber to fetch him a martini from a popular bar late at night.

Other talking points from the trial included the jury being shown emails exchanged between De Niro and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen, 45, in which it is alleged the actor was pressured to sack Chase Robinson.

Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro reportedly yelled from the stand

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De Niro conceded that the language used in the explicitive-laden emails was "unacceptable" after it included terms like "f****** rude" and "b***h" to describe Chase Robinson.

The trial is set to last about two weeks and both lawsuits are set to reach a verdict at the end of it all.

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