As many of us know by now, early this week Kevin Spacey was accused of attempted sexual assault on a 14 year old actor, Anthony Rapp. Rapp explained that almost 30 years ago when he was 14 years old, he went to a party that Spacey was at. He says that Spacey pushed himself on top of the young actor and tried to force him to do sexual acts. Rapp managed to escape and has discussed the incident before, only recently naming Spacey as the culprit. This shocking revelation has caused many others to come forward and discuss their abuse at the hand of this once respected actor.
In light of the allegations, Spacey released a statement where he apologized, saying that he didn’t remember that night, only that he was drunk. He then thought it was appropriate to come out as a gay man, saying that he wants to be more open about his personal life and must reevaluate his actions.
If this accusation alone wasn’t upsetting enough, recent reports have come out saying that at the Old Vic Theatre, a place where Spacey was artistic director from 2004-2015, it was a well known fact that he had inappropriate relationships with boys as young as 14, and many would catch him groping young boys and kept it under wraps. Another man who wishes to remain anonymous describes that in 1983, he began a sexual relationship with Spacey when he was 14 and Spacey was 24. The two had met two years before, and Spacey joked that back then, the man was too young to approach him. Spacey and this man met up a few times, which culminated in Spacey attempting to rape him. He got away and never told anyone about it until he was much older, and it took until he was Spacey’s age to realize that what happened to him was child molestation and predation.
The anonymous man identifies as gay, and says that Spacey’s coming out is damaging to the LGBTQIA+ community, saying “He thinks this is about being caught that he’s gay. And then he is spinning it, right? ‘Oh, people like gays now. So I’ll throw them that. I’ll say I’m gay and I will betray my whole community and do something else that conflates pedophilia with male homosexuality.’”
Netflix has since announced that the next season of House of Cards, which stars Spacey as it’s main character and narrator, will be its last. Despite the shows popularity, the popular streaming site has decided to distance themselves from the actor. Spacey reportedly is now seeking treatment and evaluation due to these claims, something that for me is too little, too late.
The things we should all be asking ourselves is “why do we feel like we need to protect these men? Why has Hollywood allowed this to happen?” Kevin Spacey isn’t the first, and unfortunately won’t be the last man to be accused of sexual misconduct with minors who is well known in the public eye. Several people that worked with Spacey said they knew of his behavior and did nothing to stop it or report it, while others rush to Spacey’s defense despite numerous claims coming to light. While the American Justice System preaches “innocent until proven guilty,” many have no problem saying that people like OJ Simpson committed their crimes despite court rulings. Why don’t we believe it when assault survivors come forward? As a society, members of Hollywood or not, we need to do better for those that come forward. We need to work together to make sure Hollywood and other institutions where adults and children interact are safe places to work and play. We need to protect you those that are being taken advantage of- no more secrets.