Two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey is under fire after multiple sexual misconduct accusations arose from men who have worked with him throughout his career.
Actor Anthony Rapp first accused Spacey of underage sexual assault. In an interview with Buzzfeed News, Rapp disclosed that in 1986, 26-year-old Spacey made an aggressive sexual advance towards 14-year-old Rapp at a party.
Photo from The Daily Beast
Spacey posted an apology on his personal Twitter account hours after Rapp’s disclosure of the assault.
“I’m beyond horrified to hear his story. I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But If I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour,” said Spacey.
In the same statement, Spacey claimed, “This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life. As those closest to me know, in my life I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.”
Photo from Kevin Spacey’s Twitter
The impression that Spacey only came out in response to the allegation showcases his apparent attempt at deflection and falsely links homosexuality to pedophilia.
Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and C.E.O. of the LGBTQ advocacy organization GLADD tweeted, “Coming out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault. This isn’t a coming out story about Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp and those who speak out about unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that.”
Actor Zachary Quinto called the circumstance of Spacey’s coming out, “deeply sad and troubling.”
“Not by standing up as a point of pride—in the light of all his many awards and accomplishments, thus inspiring tens of thousands of struggling L.G.B.T.Q. kids around the world—but as a calculated manipulation to deflect attention from the very serious accusation that he attempted to molest one,” said Quinto, who has been openly gay since 2011.
Spacey was due to receive the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award next month, however, the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences released a statement withdrawing Spacey’s honour, according to the Independent.
Netflix has also announced that the Emmy-nominated political drama House of Cards will end after season six. A Netflix spokesperson confirmed to Guardian Australia that the decision to end the show was made months earlier, and not in response to the allegation about Spacey surfacing.
Netflix recently released a statement regarding the future of House of Cards to Variety.
“Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show. We have also decided that we will not be moving forward with the release of the film Gore, which was in post-production, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey,” said a spokesperson from Netflix.
Spacey’s publicist, Staci Wolfe, also dropped the actor as a client, along with his talent agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Fresh allegations from men of different backgrounds continue to arise after Rapp’s initial accusation.
Tony Montana
Photo from 78 Magazine
In an interview with Radar Online, filmmaker and director Tony Montana disclosed that Spacey groped him in 2003 at Coronet Pub in Los Angeles.
“I went up to order a drink and Kevin came up to me and put his arm around me. He was telling me to come with him, to leave the bar. He put his hand on my crotch forcefully and grabbed my whole package,” said Montana.
Montana, who was in his thirties at the time, claims Spacey followed him into the washroom after the sexual misconduct.
Spacey allegedly told Montana, “This designates ownership.”
“I never talked to anyone about it except for therapists. I had PTSD for six months after. It was an emasculating thing for someone to do to me. Whenever I went to the bar I would see if he was there or have my back against the wall.” said Montana.
Montana states that Rapp’s story inspired him to come forward.
“This wasn’t something people were talking about openly. It still feels awkward. I still feel what I felt then. I put it into the back of my mind until I saw him come forward,” said Montana.
Roberto Cavazos
Photo from news.com.au
In a Facebook post, Mexican actor Roberto Cavazos wrote that Spacey, who was Artistic Director at the Old Vic Theatre in London for eleven years, routinely preyed on young male actors.
During his plays at the theatre, he fended off two advances from Spacey that bordered on harassment, according to Cavazos.
“There are many of us who have a ‘Kevin Spacey story’. It seems the only requirement was to be a male under the age of 30 for Mr. Spacey to feel free to touch us. It was so common that it became a local joke (of very bad taste),” said Cavazos.
Sexual Assault Witness from Heather Unruh
Photo from Boston Globe
Journalist and former Boston Channel 5 news anchor Heather Unruh tweeted about alleged sexual misconduct from Spacey more than two weeks before Rapp’s allegation.
“The #weinsteinscandal has emboldened me– #truth time. I was a Kevin Spacey fan until he assaulted a loved one. Time the dominoes fell,” said Unruh in a tweet.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Unruh spoke about the incident that occurred last summer at a restaurant.
“Spacey walked in, sat beside a man, and did something beneath the table that was completely unexpected, completely inappropriate,” according to Unruh.
“If a woman who saw what happened didn’t tell [the alleged victim] to run while Spacey got up to go to the bathroom, I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened,” said Unruh.
An Anonymous Man who Allegedly Had a Sexual Relationship With Spacey at 14-years old.
In an interview with Vulture, another unnamed man shared that he and Kevin Spacey had a sexual relationship that ended with attempted rape when he was 14-years-old and Spacey was 26-years-old.
The anonymous man claimed that he met Spacey when the actor was working as a guest teacher at an acting class that he attended.
Two years later, he saw Spacey in line for a Shakespeare in the Park production, which was the start of their relationship.
The accuser stated that the pair had consensual sex multiple times, but Spacey once tried to force the unnamed man to have sex when he said no.
Spacey’s attorney told Vulture in an email that “Mr. Spacey absolutely denies the allegations.”
Several other anonymous allegations have been made against Spacey.
Eight Current and Former House of Cards Employees
Photo from Fandom
In an interview with CNN, eight employees who work or have worked on the show said that Spacey created a “toxic” work environment on the set of House of Cards through a pattern of sexual harassment and assault.
Their allegations include predatory behaviour, such as touching employees without consent and making crude comments towards colleagues who were usually young men, according to the employees.
One former production assistant said that while Spacey was driving, he sexually assaulted the production assistant by putting his hands down his pants.
“I was in a state of shock. He was a man in a very powerful position on the show and I was someone very low on the totem pole and on the food chain there,” he said.
“I have no doubt that this type of predatory behaviour was routine for him and that my experience was one of many, and that Kevin had few if any qualms about exploiting his status and position. It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors,” said the production assistant.
MRC, House of Cards’ production company have begun “an anonymous complaint hotline, crisis counselors, and sexual harassment legal advisors for the crew,” reports CNN.
However, Spacey has not commented on any of the new allegations.
The actor has not been arrested or charged with any crime. He is currently seeking unspecified treatment and evaluation, according to Vanity.
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- Harvey Weinstein: Who Is Defending Him And Who Admitted To Knowing Of His Sexual Assaults
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