Kevin Spacey denies sex abuse claim at trial, ‘regrets’ coming out statement
The Hollywood actor says he was “shocked” by "unwanted sexual advance” allegations.
Kevin Spacey is in court facing accusations he made an “unwanted sexual advance” on Anthony Rapp in 1986.
Taking the stand in the third week of his trial on Monday (17 October), Spacey, 63, said the allegations of Rapp, 50, who is seeking $40m (£36m) in damages, “are not true.”
Rapp says an intoxicated Spacey, aged 26, climbed on top of him when he was 14 years old in the older actor’s Manhattan apartment, details made public in a 2017 news report.
According to court documents, the claim states that Spacey’s hand “grazed” Rapp’s buttocks and Rapp was placed on a bed by Spacey who “briefly placed his own clothed body partially beside and partially across” his own, the BBC reports.
Spacey insisted that he was “shocked” by the allegations and has never had “any sexual interest in Anthony Rapp or any child – that I knew” during his civil trial.
“I was shocked. I was frightened and I was confused,” Spacey reportedly said. “I knew I had never been alone with Anthony Rapp.”
In his first response to Rapp’s allegations, Spacey announced he was “to live as a gay man” and had not come out sooner because of lessons of “hatred” instilled in him by his prejudiced father.
Spacey claims his father, after finding out about his interest in theatre, used to “yell” at him over the idea that he may be gay.
During the trial, Spacey is said to have been tearful as he recalls supposedly feeling pressured into publishing a statement in response to Rapp’s allegations, Sky News reports.
He says he has come to “regret my entire statement” but at the time believed it “was the best way to contain a crisis that was going to get worse” and to avoid “victim shaming”.
“I have never talked about these things publicly,” he testified.
Spacey’s account of the night involved him and Rapp meeting with John Barrowman, who was 19 at the time, backstage after a performance, going to dinner, a nightclub and his apartment with the pair.
He states he flirted with Barrowman but not Rapp.
The case’s judge, Judge Lewis A Kaplan, dismissed Rapp’s claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress leaving the allegation of battery to be decided.
In August, it was ruled that Spacey must pay 31 million dollars to the producers of House of Cards over the costs of firing him from the show.
Spacey is also facing five charges in the UK of sexual assault to which he is entering a not guilty plea – the trial is due to begin in June 2023.