Maggie Pfeifle
Staff Writer
Recently, more than a dozen sexual misconduct allegations have been made against actor Kevin Spacey ranging throughout the 1980s to just last year.
On Oct. 30, in an interview with Buzzfeed News, actor Anthony Rapp publicly alleged that Kevin Spacey made a sexual advance on him in 1986, while Rapp was a teenager. Rapp alleged that Spacey had invited him over for a party, and, at the end of the night while Spacey was inebriated, had climbed on top of Rapp in an awkward sexual advance. Rapp says that he was able to squirm away and leave the apartment. Spacey was twenty-six at the time, Rapp only fourteen. Rapp stated that he felt compelled to come forward with the information following the accusations against Harvey Weinstein.
In response to the accusations made against him, Spacey tweeted, “I honestly do not remember the encounter. But if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.” In the second part of his statement, Spacey came out as a gay man, which was met with outrage from the LGBT community who believed his timing was a deflection that reflected poorly on them. According to Variety, Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD said, “This is not a coming-out story about Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Rapp and all those who bravely speak out against unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that.” Other backlash came from celebrities, like comedian Wanda Sykes who tweeted, “No no no no no! You do not get to “choose” to hide under the rainbow! Kick rocks!”
The Boston Globe reports that journalist Heather Unruh has also accused Spacey of sexually assaulting her teenage son in July of 2016. She claims that Spacey had sexually assaulted her son in a bar where he worked as a busboy. Spacey then allegedly urged the young man to accompany him to an after-hours party to drink more, before leaving for the bathroom, which was when Unruh’s son was able to run away. Unruh’s son reported the incident to Nantucket Police. A meeting with prosecutors will occur soon and “the investigation will proceed from there,” Cape and Island’s District Attorney, Michael O’Keefe has said, as reported by the Boston Globe.
Other incidents have been alleged to take place at the Old Vic, a theater in London, between 2004-2015. According to the BBC, an actor at the theater, Roberto Cavazos, claimed Spacey, “routinely preyed on young male actors.”
CNN additionally reported that eight crew members anonymously described the work environment of Spacey’s Netflix show House of Cards as a toxic work environment, saying Spacey’s behavior was “predatory and included non-consensual touching and crude comments and targeted production staffers who were typically young and male.”
In a statement provided to the New York Times, Spacey’s publicist said: “Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment. No other information is available at this time.”
In response to the allegations, Netflix has since suspended production indefinitely on the next season of House of Cards, and has fired Spacey from the show he once starred in. Spacey’s upcoming biopic, Gore, has also been canceled, and Sony Pictures is replacing the actor with Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World, an upcoming film that is set to release in December.
