Robert De Niro, 80 years old this year, is a big-name actor familiar to audiences around the world. He is famous all over the world for his works such as "Taxi Driver", "The Godfather Part II", "Once Upon a Time in America" and "The Irishman". However, everyone is equal before the law. A few days ago, the Manhattan District Court in New York ordered a private company under his name to pay US$1.264 million in compensation to a former employee on the grounds of gender discrimination.
De Niro's latest film is "Killers of the Flower Moon" directed by Martin Scorsese.
The case originated in August 2019, when De Niro launched a lawsuit in the name of his company against former employee Graham Chase Robinson, accusing her of misusing company funds and not "moving out" properly during working hours. Bricks" were all used to watch Netflix, and the company was asked to compensate for losses of up to US$6 million.
Subsequently, Graeme filed a countersuit against his former boss, accusing the other party of long-term harassment and sexual discrimination and workplace bullying during his tenure from 2008 to 2019. He requested compensation of up to US$12 million to compensate for his Emotional harm and reputational damage.
Due to the epidemic, the case was delayed for several years, and the trial did not officially begin until the end of last month. After a nine-day trial, a civil jury composed of four women and three men finally found that De Niro himself did not commit sexual discrimination or harassment, but his private company still had to pay $1.2 million in compensation to Ms. Graham. It's sexist. De Niro's lawsuit against Graeme was completely dismissed. The jury found that the female assistant had always been conscientious and had not committed any illegal behavior during the 11 years she worked for De Niro.
This kind of verdict is somewhat suspected of pacifying the situation. On the one hand, it maintains De Niro's celebrity image. On the other hand, it is equivalent to using money to silence Ms. Graham to prevent the situation from further escalating. The compensation of US$1.264 million is really a drop in the bucket for De Niro, who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But as Ms. Graham's attorney said, this private company and De Niro are basically the same thing. It is not a film and television production company, it is purely set up to handle some of De Niro's personal affairs. It has a very small number of employees. De Niro is the president, and the vice president is none other than Ms. Graham, who had an annual salary of $300,000 before leaving her job. . In other words, the jury found that De Niro himself did not discriminate, but the company needed to compensate for the discrimination, but it did not point out who was discriminating. .
It is understood that Graeme, who has worked for De Niro's private company for 11 years, has always had a good and bad relationship with his employer De Niro, and finally submitted his resignation in 2019, but at the same time requested a sum of approximately US$600,000. severance compensation to compensate for the various mental injuries she suffered during these 11 years.
De Niro naturally felt that this request was very unreasonable and had the threatening meaning of "if you don't pay, you will break the news." After the company lawyer Tom Harvey and De Niro's girlfriend Tiffany Chen Driven by the situation, he finally took Graeme to court in the name of the company on the grounds that a large amount of company property, including accumulated frequent flyer miles, had been misappropriated by him.
On August 27, 2023 local time, in New York, USA, Robert De Niro and his girlfriend Tiffany Chen took their children out for a walk. IC photo
In the end, the jury found the accusations to be false and finally exonerated Ms. Graham. On the contrary, it is De Niro himself. Because of these days of court hearings, a large number of previously unknown details about his career and life have been made public, allowing the outside world to see another side of him behind the screen.
According to Graeme, her name is an assistant, but she actually works as a 24-hour nanny. She needs to be on call, even on weekends and holidays, even when she was attending her grandmother's funeral in 2015. "And he never cares about the time difference. Even if he is in Doha, even if he is in Australia, when a call comes, I, who is in New York, will answer it immediately no matter what time it is here." Graeme was in court. indicated above. "By the end, my work situation at the company had deteriorated to the point where I was completely emotionally and mentally broken. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and was overwhelmed. I couldn't think straight and didn't know what to do."
In addition, according to her account, De Niro often said nasty things to her and would get angry if she didn't answer the phone quickly enough. "He would get really irritated and he would make a series of life-threatening calls. And then he would ask me repeatedly, 'Where are you? Why aren't you answering the phone? Why aren't you answering my phone?'"
In addition, Graham said that De Niro asked her to scratch his back at least three times, which made her feel very uncomfortable. However, De Niro's girlfriend Tiffany Chen, who testified in court, said that she had always suspected that Graeme had special feelings for De Niro that went beyond the relationship between employer and employee, and even compared her to the thriller "Single White Female" The female pervert played by Jennifer Jason Leigh in "Single White Female". "I'm not sure if she is really mentally ill, but I have always felt that she has mental health problems, and she has been trying to become De Niro's wife." Tiffany Chen, who just gave birth to a daughter in April, told the judge, "She was a mean, insecure, territorial girl and, like Dr. Jekyll, her behavior was often erratic."
However, Graham's attorney stated tit for tat that his client did suffer from psychological trauma - and therefore has been unable to re-employ for the past four years - but it was all caused by his employer De Niro, who had always been hostile to him. She was hostile to Tiffany Chen and they were the culprits.