I'm reading "How much did Robert De Niro’s trial tell us about the man behind the movie tough-guys? The actor’s ex-assistant was awarded $1.3m for gender discrimination. Details from the trial suggest a blurring of boundaries between his tough-guy movie persona and his real character" (London Times).
November 12, 2023
"Although [Graham Chase] Robinson won the case, she may find it hard to work in Hollywood again."
"'Personal assistants often handle sensitive information, making discretion paramount,' says [Stacy Jones, founder of Hollywood Branded, a marketing agency]. 'The media attention from the trial could be seen as contradictory to this need for privacy.' Or, as De Niro’s Goodfellas gangster Jimmy Conway famously put it: 'Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.'"
I'm reading "How much did Robert De Niro’s trial tell us about the man behind the movie tough-guys? The actor’s ex-assistant was awarded $1.3m for gender discrimination. Details from the trial suggest a blurring of boundaries between his tough-guy movie persona and his real character" (London Times).
She won. I see that. I have no idea what the terms of her job were, but it paid $300,000 a year. And: "A Hollywood assistant’s remit is tricky to define — it’s not a straightforward, 9-5 gig.... In the trial, claims emerged that the actor made crude jokes about his Viagra prescription; suggested Robinson use a male colleague as 'sperm donor'; called her a 'b****' and a 'f***ing spoilt brat'; would ring her while he was urinating; and asked her to 'imagine him on the toilet.'"
I'm reading "How much did Robert De Niro’s trial tell us about the man behind the movie tough-guys? The actor’s ex-assistant was awarded $1.3m for gender discrimination. Details from the trial suggest a blurring of boundaries between his tough-guy movie persona and his real character" (London Times).
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55 comments:
Sympathy is a hell of a drug.
DeNiro won't miss the money, but it's going to gall him that he's not above reproach and has been publicly called out in a way he can't control. She hasn't won anything more than a paid 3-year vacation with poor professional prospects going forward, so she hasn't cashed in, not really. I would say she has won nothing more than a moral victory here, considering her forward prospects.
He must have really been an *sshole for this to have been worth it. Thus confirming my long-held suspicions about stardom, vanity and DeNiro. Can't wait to see his next attack on Trump.
She's got 1.3M. Odds are she will do fine.
Sex discrimination? Becausw she's a girl.
Gender discrimination? Is she trans/homosexual and denied his affection? Are her books to small? Too big?
The gender-neutrally named Graham is what we used to call a handsome woman.
He's a shithead. film at 11
You never knew DeNiro was a world-class asshole?
I did.
But if she can never work again at $300k/year, those trial winnings are going to go fast...
300k - Not bad. Should be willing to put up with lots of crap.
Reactions to liberals diverging. Quaint.
De Niro is a masculine genderist swine.
Social progressives think that they can abort the baby, cannibalize her profitable parts, sequester her carbon, and have her, too.
It didn’t occur to De Niro his playing off camera could be leveraged against his on camera value.
Yeah, you are De Niro, but after awhile you realize are working for Dinero.
There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions. When do they have a cause of action?
"She's got 1.3M. Odds are she will do fine."
Do you live in the United States?
Dinero
Dinera... is gender neutered.
Reminds of a Spanish saying “El amor y el interés fueron a la playa un día, pero más pudo el interés que el amor que le tenía”.
I didn’t realize the sinister implications in the saying until way later.
The saying might really be Dominican, the republic and not necessarily Spanish from Spain.
Unless Dominican came from the Catholic Dominicans.
Suddenly Im getting a Dick Cavett vibe.
Who will empathize with an unsympathetic caricature in la la land?
I’m in a low signal area. I may have just lost a post. Shucks I hate when that happens.
What, exactly, was her cause of action?
This is at least the second time you have commented on the $300,000 salary, as if that were relevant. As if it is OK to treat a woman like a prostitute if you pay her enough.
I would guess that she's burnt out as regards this personal assistant gig. Maybe she can use her skill set to broker an agreement between Hamas and Israel or perhaps open a boutique coffee shop. When you've got a million, there are lots of possibilities....I would advise DeNiro to not shout obscenities about Trump while accepting his lifetime achievement awards. You never know who's going to be in the next jury pool....In a sense they both have lost, and so justice has been served.
I would guess that she's burnt out as regards this personal assistant gig. Maybe she can use her skill set to broker an agreement between Hamas and Israel or perhaps open a boutique coffee shop. When you've got a million, there are lots of possibilities....I would advise DeNiro to not shout obscenities about Trump while accepting his lifetime achievement awards. You never know who's going to be in the next jury pool....In a sense they both have lost, and so justice has been served.
Do the math... $1.3M award. Her lawyers will likely take about 35% of that. So that's 845K. The IRS will want at least another third, so she will likely end up with a bit less thank $600K. Which is a nice payday.
I suspect she was hoping for about 10x that...
>>There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions.
They are called "gerontologists". :)
There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions. When do they have a cause of action?
When did you become so dismissive/enabling of sexual harassment? Including when it includes asking that an employee touch her boss's body?
'The IRS will want at least another third...'
Not an expert, but this type of judgment might not be taxable.
But the lawyers will certainly take their cut...
I don't hold any brief for deNiro, but...was any actual evidence presented at trial? Or was it just he said she said?
"In the trial, claims emerged that the actor made crude jokes about his Viagra prescription"
MY DICK
Equality! He treated her just like one of the guys.
“There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions. When do they have a cause of action?”
Good point. Think of every minimum wage nurse’s aide in a nursing home. Geriatric harassment must be a way of life but for 300K people would be lining up for miles for a crack at it.
DeNiro must have been taking behavior tips from Harvey Weinstein. DeNiro looked like a dirty old man in his role as William Hale in "Killers Of The Flower Moon". I guess he wasn't acting--that was his real self.
About the “mouth shut”. If these types of employments don’t sign NDA’s, they are doing it wrong.
Maybe this writer is a human and not an AI.
She was with him 11 years. How many incidents did she reference? A dozen? Pretty lame. Not defending DeNiro, whose anti-Trump stuff seems a bit much. But, these sort of suits are like divorce court, where the wife can drag up one incident per year to make it seem as if there is constant abuse.
Or, the common defense when a jealous wife kills her husband "He abused me for years and years."
She got one tenth of what she was asking.
"In two days on the witness stand, the actor told jurors that he boosted Robinson's salary from less than $100,000 annually to $300,000 and elevated her title to vice president of production and finance at her request, even though her responsibilities remained largely the same."
And, seems to be some jealousy between wife and assistant. A regular soap opera.
cNo paywall
I guess this is about as close to both of them losing as was practical since no meteor was ever likely to hit the courtroom with both of them in it.
Blogger Ann Althouse said...
There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions. When do they have a cause of action?
My mother-in-law was personal assistant to Jane Russel for 30 years. She traveled all over the world with her. I never heard a criticism.
My daughter was a personal assistant to a famous artist. He was old and died while she worked for him. She sometimes represented him at art events and managed his medical care after he was bedridden. I never heard of any inappropriate statements like DeNero made. I think he is just a jerk.
Yes, DeNiro is an a**hole. My MIL did a bit of acting and experienced it first-hand on set. Not sexual harrassment (she was probably 20 years older than he), but just nasty, patronizing attitude toward anyone not in his elite circle. It doesn't surprise me at all that he would treat his assistant like that. I'm sure it's not unusual, but they are not all that way. She mentioned others who were very gracious and courteous.
"There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions. When do they have a cause of action?"
Assuming the oldster is mentally competent, they have a cause of action for gender discrimination against the employing organization about the second time her superior calls her a bitch. And that's not even considering the retribution claim which was also judged in her favor.
DiNiro's production company was held liable, but not him personally.
So Bobby DeNiro is a POS? Who knew!?!?
“There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions. When do they have a cause of action?”
Since they are presumed to be adults, hopefully never. They will eventually put it behind them, somehow.
Hostile environment sexual harassment claims are problematic because of the vagueness of the conduct triggering liability. Though nominally gender neutral, as a statistical matter, it is woman protective. The result is that interactions are inhibited, and a sort of neo-chivalry is expected from the men. It makes workplaces even less fun.
Joe Smith:
Do you live in the United States?
Yes. Do you live above your means?
Ann Althouse:
There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions. When do they have a cause of action?
Right after women at work talking about their births and all it's accompanying effluvia are taken to task.
It sounds like he was intentionally nasty to her. Not that she just “overheard” his own private conversations. DiNero is a pathetic little man who lived his life artificially elevated by the immoral leftist ideology that permeates Hollywood and “the arts” in general. Of course he thinks he’s a big deal that everyone should take crap from. This is why he is so nasty about anything to the right of Stalin. Because he knows in the real world he would have been nothing. Only post modernist mores gave him status and wealth.
Meanwhile the women whose actual job it is to help old men in nursing homes and have actually watch them defecate make many many times less.
There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions. When do they have a cause of action?
@Althouse, they don’t. For that kind of money one is expected to put up with a degree of shit. Fifty-three years ago I dated a WAC. Things her female drill sergeant had said to her training platoon during Basic Training were way worse than anything DeNiro is alleged to have said, and my girlfriend had to put up with it for $133 per month.
'Yes. Do you live above your means?'
I live well below my means.
After the lawyers, less than $1M is nice, but it's not life-changing unless you are poor.
From Full Moon's link:
" The world first learned about Chase Robinson back in August of this year when Robert De Niro filed a lawsuit against her. His lawsuit claimed she wasted “astronomical amounts of time” at work watching Netflix and used a corporate account to pay for tens of thousands of dollars of luxury meals, trips, and groceries.
Robinson’s alleged Netflix watching during work hours included 55 episodes of Friends during one four-day period in January. In a separate four-day period, the lawsuit claims she watched 20 episodes of Arrested Development and 10 of Schitt’s Creek."
Well, if you're going to get stuck doing jury duty, this one would be a good one to get stuck with.
I agree about the settlement: not enough to live on if she is now unemployable (without changing careers, a definite option).
People should be nice, in a general sense, no matter how rich they are. But not all are. When rich people had body servants AND shame, most probably didn't abuse those servants too badly, I'm guessing. But shame is sooo 19th century.
Remember in the 2010s-ish, when a bunch of young hot actors decided that personal hygiene was sooo 20th century? I can't imagine being a PA those stinky greasy-haired creatures. Ugh.
Based on boatbuilder's comment - so, the $300k was specifically to put up with a bunch of crap, since apparently it wasn't for her work?
Nonetheless, everyone have some dignity and don't make awkward dick jokes to your employees.
We all know that DeNiro is a vulgar piece of shit. Brando constantly hired "PA" and housekeepers and tried to use them as sex toys and put them through all kinds of "tests" for his own amusement.
Some people can handle power, others abuse it.
I hope she gets a job with Amber Heard.
Joe Smith:
After the lawyers, less than $1M is nice, but it's not life-changing unless you are poor.
Poor or not, buying a house with cash is life-changing.
Jamie:
(without changing careers, a definite option)
Hence, she'll be fine. Anyone thinking one court settlement is supposed to set you up for a lifetime of your current status is greedy and unrealistic.
“There must be a lot of people working providing personal assistance to old men who end up hearing their remarks about sex and bodily functions. When do they have a cause of action?
I see both age and sex discrimination in this statement.
I am 80. I own a business that has many moving parts and requires great attention to deadline and detail. I take on many demanding non-paying outside projects on request or just because they interest me. My wife is part of my business and has myriad outside interests of her own.
She is fully supportive of me having a part-time personal assistant.
My "Girl Friday" (I'm sure that description is offensive to some on soooo many levels) is a young college student with basic IT skills (both Windows & IOS) who is responsible for keeping my calendar and organizing my work flow. She is expected to get in my face if I pretend to be too busy to get things done 'on time'.
I pay her about three times what she would make in part-time retail or other businesses that hire a lot of part-time help (but far less the cost of hiring a 'professional').
She is a very attractive young woman with a quiet and pleasant persona who can deliver a razor-sharp zinger with such grace and modesty it often takes a minute to realize you've been mortally wounded. My wife is quite fond of her and sometimes I think they conspire against me. Inevitable, I guess.
Is sex ever a topic of conversation? Maybe, if we've seen the same movie and comment that some person was hot or not. We don't flirt but there is some frission, I think. Good! It encourages people to be at their best.
Bodily functions? If you mention a bodily function (including medical symptoms and procedures) at my table you will be asked to stop immediately. If you don't, I will get up and leave. God forbid you should blow your nose at the table (and, inevitably, examine the result).
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