Faye Dunaway's former assistant accuses her of calling him 'a little homosexual boy'

Actress Faye Dunaway verbally abused her gay personal assistant before firing him for complaining, a new lawsuit alleges.

According to the suit filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court, Michael Rocha claims he began working for the star on play Tea at Five, the production from which Dunaway was eventually fired, on 5 April and was tasked with shopping, arranging the star's schedule and getting her to and from rehearsals.

The court papers allege Dunaway "regularly and relentlessly subjected plaintiff to abusive demeaning tirades" and used his sexual orientation to "demean and humiliate him at work".

On 2 May, the Mommie Dearest star allegedly called Rocha and his co-workers "little gay people", while she later labelled him "a little homosexual boy", which he says he has a recording of.

While Rocha reported the actress' homophobic slurs to the general manager and general counsel for the one-woman play, he was subsequently fired from the production and told that Dunaway "is not comfortable with you anymore".

Dunaway was later fired from her role as actress Katharine Hepburn in the production, after she allegedly slapped and threw items at crewmembers who were trying to fit her with a wig.

While the play was billed as Dunaway's return to Broadway after 37 years, it never made it past early performances in Boston, Massachusetts, with TMZ.com reporting the star also forgot her lines, despite wearing an earpiece, and even told an audience member to take a hat off their knee as she found it distracting.