Reports: Faye Dunaway hit with lawsuit from gay assistant claiming abuse
A month after Faye Dunaway was fired from her Broadway-bound play, the Oscar winner is being sued by her former assistant, who alleges verbal harassment.
In his lawsuit Michael Rocha, who says he worked with Dunaway while she was rehearsing for the play "Tea at Five," alleges the Oscar winner used his sexual orientation to “demean and humiliate him at work.”
USA TODAY reached out to Dunaway's rep for comment.
Rocha filed a suit against the actress in Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday, according to NBC News and Fox News.
In papers filed, the outlets report, Rocha says he worked out of the actress' apartment in New York, alleging that Dunaway "regularly and relentlessly" subjected him to demeaning tirades.
In court documents Rocha says the actress called him and other workers “little gay people” in early May and claims to have video of Dunaway referring to him as “a little homosexual boy.”
Rocha's lawsuit states he was fired two weeks after raising the issue with a show manager and lawyer. He is suing Dunaway, the play, a producer and the show's general counsel for retaliation and discrimination.
Rocha was allegedly paid $1,500 a week starting in early April, and his responsibilities included shopping for the actress, managing her schedule and accompanying her to and from rehearsals for the show in Manhattan.
Dunaway previously played Katharine Hepburn in "Tea at Five's pre-Broadway run in Boston. The one-woman play from Matthew Lombardo chronicles Hepburn's acting career and her survival of a car crash.
"Tea at Five" would have marked Dunaway's first Broadway performance in nearly 40 years, since "The Curse of an Aching Heart" in 1982. The actress won an Academy Award for the 1977 film "Network."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Faye Dunaway sued by gay assistant alleging abuse, tirades: reports
