Kevin Spacey to pay $31 million to House of Cards producers following sexual assault allegations
Allegations against the actor first emerged in 2017.
Words: Alastair James; pictures: Television Academy/YouTube
It’s been confirmed that Kevin Spacey has been ordered to pay nearly $31m (£23.2 million) to the makers of Netflix’s House of Cards after breaching his contract following allegations of sexual harassment against him.
Allegations first emerged in 2017 when RENT and Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp claimed Spacey, 62, had made advances on him when he was 14. This led to others coming forward and Spacey being fired from the hit Netflix show and other projects.
Following the allegations, Spacey, who has denied the allegations, came out as gay, which led to criticism for linking it to his alleged behaviour.
“Egregious breaches of contract”
According to a report by Variety, Spacey was ordered to make the $31 million payment in a secret ruling last year, but it was made public yesterday (Monday 22 November) after lawyers for MRC, the studio behind House of Cards, filed a court petition to confirm it was happening.
Spacey is said to have appealed the ruling and lost.
MRC and Netflix fired Spacey and wrote his character out of the show in 2017 following the allegations and claim, as per Variety, they lost millions of dollars after restarting work on the show’s sixth season.
An arbitration process in 2020 ultimately ruled in MRC’s favour and found “Spacey’s egregious breaches of contract” meant he should cover the costs of the restart.
Spacey and his companies, M. Profitt Productions and Trigger Street Productions, are to pay $29.5 million in damages, $1.2 million in legal fees, and $235,000 in additional costs.
Anthony Rapp is suing Spacey in an ongoing case, while cases concerning other allegations have been dropped.
The Attitude December issue is out now.
Subscribe in print and get your first three issues for just £1 each, or digitally for just over £1.50 per issue.
