- Robert De Niro is a legendary actor
- He has been accused of discrimination
- THESE are the details of the case
The jury found Canal Productions, a company formed by De Niro (80, Actor) to manage his personal affairs, guilty of gender discrimination and retaliation. Robinson, who quit in April 2019, accused the actor of creating a toxic work environment. Although De Niro was not personally held liable, the jury ruled that Canal Productions should make two payments of $632,142 to Robinson.
"Thrilled with the verdict!" exclaimed Robinson's attorney, Brent Hannafan, outside the courthouse. In contrast, De Niro's lawyer, Richard Schoenstein, claimed the verdict was "a great victory for Mr. De Niro," as he was not found liable.
Robert is undamaged in the end
Robinson testified that De Niro and his girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, made her job a nightmare. However, De Niro and Chen countered that Robinson became problematic when her ambitions to move beyond Canal Productions led to escalating demands. Robinson alleged that De Niro may have told her his personal trainer was paid more due to having a family to support. De Niro admitted to asking her to scratch his back on two occasions and berating her, but denied ever being abusive or yelling at her.
Robinson claimed she quit her job during an "emotional and mental breakdown," leading to anxiety, depression, and unemployment for four years. "I lost my life. Lost my career. Lost my financial independence. I lost everything," she confessed. De Niro's lawyers had previously sued Robinson for breach of loyalty and fiduciary duty, seeking $6 million in damages, including a return of 5 million airline miles. The jury flatly rejected these claims.
Her lawsuit came after De Niro and Canal earlier sued Robinson in 2019 over allegations she stole five million Delta SkyMiles from company cards and watched "astounding hours of TV shows" while at her job.
Both lawsuits were being considered by the New York jury. Robinson was employed by De Niro from 2008 to 2019. When she quit her vice-president role, she reportedly earned a salary of US$300,000.
His word against hers
De Niro testified that despite her executive title, Robinson still functioned primarily as a personal assistant to him. Alternatively, Robinson claimed De Niro overworked and underpaid her and made her perform gendered tasks such as laundry, despite being in a high-level position.
De Niro and Chen each testified that Robinson became the problem when her aspirations to move beyond Canal Productions, the De Niro company that employed her, led her to make escalating demands to remain on the job.
Emails in which Chen told De Niro that she thought Robinson was having "imaginary intimacy" with him and wished she was his wife were shown to jurors. Robinson testified that she never had romantic interest in De Niro.
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His seventh child
While De Niro said he may have called Robinson names like "petulant," "snippy" and a "f—ing spoiled brat," he denied most other allegations. Despite Robinson’s testimony that her job was 24/7, De Niro maintained that he only contacted her during "civilized hours."
Robinson denied having any romantic feelings for De Niro and accused Chen of pushing her from the job at Canal because she was jealous of her working relationship with De Niro. In the end, the jury ruled in favor of De Niro, instead finding the actor’s production company liable of the accusations.
That means Robert could be back on the screen soon.
