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Kevin Spacey sued for sexual misconduct by actor Anthony Rapp

Kevin Spacey sued for sexual misconduct by actor Anthony Rapp

Rapp alleges that Spacey “engaged in an unwanted sexual advance” with him when he was 14, during a party at Spacey’s home in 1986.
Updated 10 Sep, 2020

Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey was accused in a civil lawsuit on Wednesday of sexual assault and battery in the 1980s by actor Anthony Rapp and a second, unnamed person when both plaintiffs were about 14.

The suit, filed in New York state court in Manhattan, refers to the same alleged incident that Rapp first recounted in an October 2017 BuzzFeed interview that triggered Spacey’s fall from grace in Hollywood.

Spacey did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The actor, who won Oscars for the films American Beauty and The Usual Suspects and a Golden Globe for the TV political drama House of Cards, has largely retreated from public life in the past three years.

Spacey in 2017 said he did not remember the encounter Rapp described but added, “If I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”

Spacey, now 61, came out as gay in 2017.

Rapp, best known for starring in the Broadway musical Rent, alleged in the lawsuit that Spacey “engaged in an unwanted sexual advance” with him when he was 14, during a party at Spacey’s home in 1986.

The second person, identified only as C.D., alleged that he and Spacey had oral and anal sex and engaged in other sexual acts on several occasions in the early 1980s when the plaintiff was approximately 14 years old.

Both men are seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress.

Rapp’s initial accusation, part of the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct, led to Spacey being dropped from House of Cards and his scenes in the movie All the Money in the World were re-shot with actor Christopher Plummer.

Rapp and the second man filed their lawsuit under New York’s 2019 Child Victims Act, their lawyer Peter J. Saghir said. The act gave people one year, later extended to two, to sue over sexual abuse allegations regardless of when they occurred.

“This lawsuit sends a strong message that no matter how wealthy, powerful or famous you may be you are not above the law,” Saghir said in a statement.

Prosecutors in Massachusetts in 2019 dropped criminal charges against Spacey of felony indecent assault and battery involving an 18 year-old man in a bar in 2016. Spacey had pleaded not guilty. The case was dropped after the alleged victim declined to testify.

Comments

Chrís Dăn Sep 10, 2020 12:56pm
He has been my favourite actor in life. His movie 'A Beautiful Mind' is a wonderful movie and so are others. I never knew that he in his personal life imposes himself sexually on teen age boys without their consensus. He has disappointed me . I am grateful for#me too movement as it helps us to see the real faces of heroes in our eyes. Though very disappointing to let my favourite actor go!!!
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Osman Sep 10, 2020 04:51pm
This is what happens when a society abandons its cultural and moral values, established by its religion.
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Chrís Dăn Sep 10, 2020 07:30pm
@Osman wrong. Totally wrong. In Pak8stan,Kasur is a witness of gangsters working to blackmail poor little children and then all was hushed up. The coal mines in Baluchistan are a ever living tragedy for children who are born in that area. It is not a problem of values . It is a problem of individual mind/s.
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atif Sep 10, 2020 10:00pm
@Osman What are you talking about? Bad things happen everywhere. Read that woman/ highway news please
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