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Faye Dunaway sued for calling her assistant ‘a little homosexual boy’

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Updated on July 6, 2023

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A new suit claims that actress Faye Dunaway repeatedly called her gay personal assistant on the stage of “Tea at Five” “a little homosexual child” .

The 78-year-old Oscar-winning actress is the target of legal action brought by Michael Rocha, who claimed she verbally abused him before firing him after he complained.

Rocha was paid $1,500 (£1,200) and had the responsibility of taking care of Dunaway’s errands, arranging her schedule, and driving her to and from the play’s rehearsals. According to Rocha’s court documents, Dunaway “regularly and relentlessly subjected plaintiff to abusive demeaning tirades” and “demean and humiliate him at work” by using his s-xual orientation. Additionally, he provided audio proof of her mistreatment.

The court records are replete with countless information about Dunaway’s actions. On May 2, she allegedly referred to Rocha and other playwrights as “little gay people,” and a few weeks later, called her assistant a “little homosexual boy,” according to a recording that Rocha claims to have. When he handed the play’s management that recording, they informed him that Dunaway “is not comfortable with you anymore,” and on June 12, they fired him.

Rocha allegedly wrote to Tea at Five’s general manager, Joseph Guglielmo, in an email: “As I told you on Friday, she still thinks I’m her 24/7 servant and went off on me because I was not there yesterday afternoon or this morning doing her dishes.”

Dunaway is used to being referred to as a diva. Roman Polanski, the filmmaker of “Chinatown,” famously told a Rolling Stone reporter she was “a giant pain in the ass” during a filming session marred by animosity on set. According to Peter Biskind’s Hollywood autobiography “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls,” Dunaway allegedly peed into garbage cans during filming “Chinatown” and once threw a cup of her urine into director Roman Polanski’s face. Dunaway then stated to The Guardian that the charge “doesn’t even deserve the decency of a response.”

Faye had already performed the one-woman play Tea at Five at a pre-Broadway tryout in Boston between 22 June and 14 July. The piece is about Katharine Hepburn’s recovery from a car accident.

According to show reports acquired by TMZ, Dunaway was accused of forgetting her lines during early performances of the show, snapping at spectators in the middle of the show, and obnoxiously griping about the lighting in the theater.

Producers previously informed The Post that the drama would be remade and performed in London in the spring.