NEW YORK — A former aide to Robert De Niro accused the actor Thursday of sexually harassing her and treating her like an “office wife” during her 11-year stint working for him.
The Oscar winner subjected Graham Chase Robinson to “gratuitous unwanted physical contact,” lobbed sexually charged comments at her and made her do “housework” as an employee of his company, Canal Productions, she said in a Manhattan federal court lawsuit.
De Niro accused Robinson in his own lawsuit of wasting company money and binge-watching TV shows on the job — false “clickbait” allegations lodged in retaliation for her grievances, her lawsuit says. She’s seeking $12 million in pay and damages.
“Robert De Niro is someone who has clung to old mores,” the lawsuit said. “He does not accept the idea that men should treat women as equals. He does not care that gender discrimination in the workplace violates the law. Ms. Robinson is a casualty of this attitude.”
De Niro’s attorney, Tom Harvey, dismissed Robinson’s accusations.
“The allegations made by Graham Chase Robinson against Robert De Niro are beyond absurd,” Harvey said in a statement.
Robinson hoped to pursue a career in the film industry when she started working for De Niro’s firm in 2008, the lawsuit says. She started out as his executive assistant and was eventually promoted to vice president of production and finance at Canal Productions before she resigned in April of this year, court papers show.
The actor berated and degraded her as she moved up the ladder, the lawsuit claims. He urinated while on the phone with her, greeted her wearing only a bathrobe, called her sexist names and directed her “to imagine him on the toilet,” according to the complaint.
De Niro made Robinson perform menial tasks despite her senior role in the company, such as putting away his boxers, fixing his clothes and picking out gifts for his children, the lawsuit says. He also told her to scratch his back, button his shirts and “prod him awake” in bed, according to the suit.
The complaint includes a link to a voicemail message in which De Niro can be heard calling Robinson a “spoiled brat” after she didn’t answer his phone call.
“You’re about to be fired. You’re f—ing history,” he says on the recording.
Robinson made headlines in August when Canal Productions reportedly filed a $6 million lawsuit accusing her of “corporate sabotage.” The company claimed she made thousands of dollars worth of unauthorized purchases and spent hours watching “Friends” and “Arrested Development” while at work, according to Variety.
Robinson’s lawsuit says that “abusive, preemptive” filing was a direct response to her gender discrimination complaints.
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“The lawsuit concocted false allegations designed to inhibit Ms. Robinson from pursuing her claims, destroy her reputation, and obliterate her job prospects,” her lawsuit says. “Ms. Robinson will not be intimidated.”