Robert De Niro Rages During Court Trial Over Dispute Against Personal Assistant

Hollywood screen legend Robert De Niro conducted an incensed tirade during his court trial against his former personal assistant, Graham Chase Robinson, in New York earlier in the week.

De Niro was reported to have yelled on the witness stand that was directed against Robinson on Tuesday, claiming that his former employee conducted herself as a "spoiled brat", as well as an admission of his verbal abuse to Robinson.

"Yeah, fine, I berated her," said De Niro, according to a report from People. Other words that De Niro used to describe Robinson during the trial. De Niro claimed that his loss of temper against Robinson happened only on occasion.

De Niro against Robinson

De Niro's production company, Canal Productions, sued Robinson for $6 million for a number of offences that violated their contract. Robinson allegedly watched TV endlessly during her tenure in the company.

The suit also claimed that Robinson embezzled the company of funds by siphoning millions worth of frequent-flyer travel points and that Robinson did a lot of personal shopping for groceries and meals on the company credit card.

According to the lawsuit, Robinson worked as the Vice President of Production and Finance for Canal Productions, where she made $300,000 annually. Robinson has been employed by the company since 2008.

Robinson filed a $12m countersuit against De Niro as a result, claiming that the legendary actor had constantly berated Robinson during her time in the company. The countersuit claimed that De Niro made suggestive remarks about Robinson, made frequent sexist comments and was paid less than her male colleagues.

The countersuit added that De Niro's legal representation filed ahead of Robinson since De Niro's camp caught wind of Robinson's plans to sue.

The countersuit also pressed that Canal Productions violated the New York City Human Rights Law by assigning Robinson jobs that fell into sexist territory or fell far from her designated role.

A frustrated monologue

In the same report from People, De Niro's charged comments were made after Robinson's defence attorney, Andrew Macurdy, asked about the superstar mentioning offensive names against Robinson after his former employee forgot to wake De Niro up for a meeting.

De Niro lost his temper, according to a report from AP, citing: "Every little thing [Robinson's] trying to get me on is nonsense! Shame on you, Chase Robinson." The decorated actor apologised immediately after making the statement.

In a continuation of the charged statement, De Niro said that he wanted the filing to get back the company property and assets that Robinson got and nothing more from her former employee.

The New York court will continue to examine documents related to the case as the days go on. Specimens to be questioned on the trial will include email and text correspondence from De Niro's current girlfriend Tiffany Chen.

In an earlier statement, De Niro said that Chen was suspicious of the star's employment relationship with Robinson. The Hollywood star said that Chen may have been hostile against the former assistant because Robinson has been disrespectful to his partner.

De Niro's recent work

The two-time Academy Award Winner was recently praised by critics for his performance in the film Killers of the Flower Moon as William King Hale.

He was brought into the project by his frequent collaborator, American filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Alongside De Niro is Leonardo DiCaprio as Ernest Burkhart and Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart.

The Scorsese picture depicted how the Native Americans of Osage County in Oklahoma were plagued by a series of murders from people around them to acquire their head rights for the oil-rich reservation.

De Niro as Hale was widely applauded for depicting as a villainous and manipulative mastermind that went to great lengths to secure the Osage riches.