The former employee Robert De Niro sued in August is returning the favor with a lawsuit of her own.
De Niro's company, Canal Productions, over the summer filed a $6 million lawsuit against former vice president of production and finance Graham Chase Robinson, alleging she embezzled money and, among other things, binge-watched Netflix on the job.
But now Robinson, who denies those allegations, is suing De Niro herself, in a new lawsuit accusing him of gender discrimination, The New York Times reports. Robinson, who was De Niro's executive assistant, claims she was paid less than a male counterpart and that De Niro made "vulgar, inappropriate, and gendered comments" to her, including joking about his Viagra prescription, suggesting that she "could get pregnant using sperm from her (married) male co-worker," and calling her "b---h" and another woman "c--t," per The Hollywood Reporter.
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Robinson also alleges she was subjected to "gratuitous unwanted physical contact" by De Niro, including being asked to scratch his back and "prod him awake when he was in bed," and that the actor treated her as his "office wife" by having her do "female duties like housework," Variety reports.
The complaint additionally claims that De Niro "threatened repercussions" after she said she intended to resign and sued her in August only because she was considering filing her own lawsuit. "Her reputation and her career have been destroyed" because of the "'clickbait' allegations" in De Niro's lawsuit, the complaint says. Robinson is seeking $12 million.
De Niro, whose new movie Joker opens in theaters Friday and is a 2020 Oscars frontrunner for his role in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, has not yet responded to the lawsuit.
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