Robert De Niro’s production company convicted of discrimination 85 years after the night of the pogrom: ‘Never thought something like this would happen again’

A New York court has convicted Oscar winner Robert De Niro’s production company of gender discrimination. A jury in New York ruled on Thursday that the agency of the 80-year-old Hollywood star was liable and had to pay more than 1.2 million dollars (1.1 million euros) to a woman, American media unanimously reported.

In the civil lawsuit, a former employee of De Niro complained that the actor had given her “stereotypically feminine” tasks, such as washing his bed linens and other household chores. “I kept getting these jobs and turning them down because I didn’t want to be involved in decorating his house,” the plaintiff testified in court, according to the New York Times. “You do that with your girlfriend. Do this together with your wife. You don’t do that with your female production manager.”

De Niro had vehemently denied all this and dismissed the claims as ‘nonsense’. He himself was not found guilty of any form of gender discrimination or retaliation. “Mr. De Niro has been acquitted,” his lawyer Richard Schoenstein told the New York Times. They are really happy that they “got De Niro out of the business”. The amount of damages awarded by the jury will be assessed.

(yam/sda/dpa)