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Robert De Niro is having some trouble with the hired help.

On Tuesday, the grumpy De Niro shouted “Shame on you!” at his former executive assistant as he appeared in a New York courtroom, refuting allegations that he was abusive to his employee –  who is now suing for millions of dollars in damages.

Good move, Travis Bickle, that’ll show the judge that it’s all just lies.

Graham Chase Robinson is levelling all kinds of charges at the actor, claiming that he was abusive towards her as she “served his needs, large and small, from 2008 until her resignation in 2019”.

Robinson, 41, is suing for $12 million in damages for emotional distress and reputational harm, which she alleges has left her jobless and unable to recover from the trauma of her employment. She was earning $300,000 a year until she resigned, frustrated by her dealings with De Niro’s girlfriend, Tiffany Chen.

The lawsuit is also dredging up a 2019 lawsuit De Niro filed against Robinson in which he claimed that she stole from him, including five million airline points that had been accrued on a company credit card. Grumpy Santa also alleged that Robinson watched “astounding hours of TV shows” during working hours. De Niro is seeking the return of three years worth of Robinson’s salary as compensation.

“The whole case is nonsense. It’s absurd. But I’m here!”

De Niro’s visibly angered as attorney Andrew Macurdy pelted him with accusations, and at one point Macurdy asked De Niro whether it was true that he sometimes urinated as he spoke with Robinson on the telephone. To this weird question, the old timer exclaimed: “Give me a break with this nonsense. You got us all here for this?”

Inconvenience aside, De Niro denied being verbally abusive to Robinson and furiously refuted her claim that he told her “he preferred she scratch his back instead of using a back-scratcher”. According to the actor, it may have happened once or twice, but “never was with disrespect or lewdness.” Finally having had enough of being asked stupid questions, De Niro shouted: “Shame on you, Chase Robinson!”

After sommer invoking her full name, De Niro likely realised that shouting at the person suing you for emotional abuse is not a clever move, and the cantankerous octogenarian muttered an apology to Judge Lewis J Liman. De Niro will unfortunately have to contend with the pedestrian nonsense for a few more days as the trial is only expected to be concluded on 10 November.

Shame man, with a new baby at home the guy doesn’t need this aggravation. Just say sorry and settle, then you can go back to chasing Dennis the Menace off your lawn.

[source:guardian]