Jay-Z and Robert De Niro got into a heated discussion this week at a New York restaurant, according to reports, with Beyonce eventually stepping in to quell the tension.
All three were dining at West Village hotspot The Darby on Saturday, for Leonardo DiCaprio’s birthday. Jay-Z reportedly approached De Niro’s table to say hello, and the actor criticized the rapper for not returning his phone calls, deeming Jay “disrespectful.”
“Bob wasn’t in any mood to make polite conversation,” the a source for the New York Post claimed, “he told Jay that if somebody calls you six times, you call them back. It doesn’t matter who you are, that is just rude.” Jay-Z reportedly tried to pass off the whole thing as a joke, claiming he’s terrible at returning phone calls, but De Niro was not amused.
The source of the heated discussion was a song that Jay had allegedly agreed to record for the Tribeca film festival. De Niro has been a long-time supporter of the festival, having founded it in 2002 alongside Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff. Jay had apparently not followed through on his promise to record the song, and De Niro was not pleased.
The Post source added that Jay’s wife, Beyonce, came over to smooth tension between the two men, “but that didn’t calm Bob down.” The source further claimed the incident “was the talk of the party,” as both men are titans in the Empire State and New York community. 
Reps for De Niro, Jay-Z, and Beyonce have refused to comment on the incident.
The birthday party for DiCaprio lasted until almost 5 a.m. and raised nearly $3 million for the Leonardo DiCaprio foundation, an organization devoted to environmental awareness. Other guests included Emma Watson, Cameron Diaz, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Jonah Hill, Edward Norton and Mark Ruffalo.
