Robert De Niro testified under oath in a federal courtroom on Tuesday that he ordered "a particular martini" from Nobu to be delivered to his home in an Uber — but only once.
The "Killers of the Flower Moon" and "Dirty Grandpa" actor delivered the testimony, under penalty of perjury, in a civil trial on Tuesday between him and Graham Chase Robinson, a former executive assistant.
Robinson sued De Niro, alleging that his production company was a workplace hostile to women and that he burdened her with "work wife" duties and subjected her to "gratuitous unwanted physical contact."
De Niro countersued Robinson, who worked at Canal Productions for over a decade, alleging she racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars on the company credit card for improper personal expenses, including meals and numerous Uber trips. The counterclaim says Robinson also stole millions of Delta SkyMiles for her personal vacations and "loafed during work hours, binge-watching astounding hours of TV shows on Netflix."
The issue of when it was or wasn't appropriate to use the company's credit cards for Ubers came up numerous times during questioning from Andrew Macurdy, one of Robinson's lawyers.
Macurdy raised an occasion where De Niro tasked Robinson with ordering from Nobu, the iconic New York restaurant that De Niro co-owns, at 11 p.m.
"One time, you really wanted a particular martini at Nobu, and you asked her to deliver it for you, yes?" Macurdy asked.
De Niro said it happened only once.
"That would have been one time," he said.
"That's different," he added.
In interviews, De Niro has described a taste for simple martinis. On a 2022 podcast, he said he liked them made with Hendrick's gin and "just cucumber and shake it, no vermouth, no nothing."
The actor told Wine Enthusiast magazine in 2015 that his preferred recipe for a vodka martini was a mixture of four ounces of vodka and one ounce of dry vermouth stirred (not shaken) with ice. He said it was best to strain it into a martini glass, then repour it into the shaker and strain it again. It should be finished, he said, with a lemon twist.
At the trial Tuesday, Macurdy defended Robinson's spending and said Canal Productions didn't have formal policies for work expenses.
De Niro said he trusted — wrongly, as he said it turned out — Robinson to use good judgment.
"It was the honor system," De Niro said. "Do the right thing."
