Anthony Rapp accuses Kevin Spacey of sexual advances, Spacey responds by coming out
Rapp told Buzzfeed he was 14 when the 26-year-old Spacey tried to seduce him
Kevin Spacey has apologized and come out as gay after actor Anthony Rapp accused him of making sexual advances towards him when he was just 14 years old.
Rapp, who currently stars in Star Trek: Discovery, leveled the accusations against Spacey in an interview with Buzzfeed News. He says that in 1986, while starring in Precious Sons on Broadway, then 26-year-old Kevin Spacey invited him to a house party.
After Rapp moved to a bedroom to watch TV, Spacey appeared at the door “kind of swaying. My impression when he came into the room was that he was drunk.
“He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold,” Rapp said. “But I don’t, like, squirm away initially, because I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then he lays down on top of me.”
Rapp said that Spacey was “trying to seduce” him. “I don’t know if I would have used that language,” he continued. “But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”
In the wake of the unprecedented fallout from multiple accusations of sexual assault, abuse, and rape aimed at disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, Rapp felt compelled to finally name Spacey. He had originally told the story to The Advocate in 2001, but omitted the actor’s name.
“My stomach churns,” Rapp told Buzzfeed. “I still to this day can’t wrap my head around so many aspects of it. It’s just deeply confusing to me.”
Spacey responded to the accusations on Twitter.
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor. I’m beyond horrified to hear his story,” Spacey wrote. “I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. 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.”
Spacey refrained from addressing Rapp’s age at the time of the incident. By Rapp’s own admission, “I looked younger than 14.”
Instead, the House of Cards star attempted to deflect from the controversy by publicly coming out.
“This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life,” Spacey wrote. “I know that there are stories out there about me and that some have been fueled by the fact that I have been so protective of my privacy. As those closest to me know, in my life, I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic relationships with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior.”
Spacey’s statement has caused widespread outrage, particularly among LGBTQ people, who said his ill-timed coming out not only hurt his apology, but LGBTQ people as a whole.
Here, I fixed it for you. pic.twitter.com/6Gn5FyPeZe
— Theo's New Groove (@TheosNewGroove) October 30, 2017
Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 30, 2017
Kevin Spacey has set gay rights back fifty years by a) conflating homosexuality with paedophilia and b) Saying that being gay is a "choice."
— Eden Adder Calvary (@EACalvary) October 30, 2017
Kevin Spacey really tried to throw the entire LGBT community under a bus and call it solidarity in an effort to mask his personal failings.
— deray (@deray) October 30, 2017
Anthony Rapp: "Kevin Spacey tried to rape me."
Media: "Kevin how do you respond?"
Spacey: "uuh…uuhh… Hey everyone I'm gay!" pic.twitter.com/6LAEfsyRtF
— Travon Free (@Travon) October 30, 2017
Imagine a male celebrity sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and their excuse is "I'm straight." That's what Kevin Spacey is doing.
— Jeremy McLellan (@JeremyMcLellan) October 30, 2017
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis slammed Spacey for his response.
“Coming-out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault,” she said in a statement. “This is not a coming-out story about Kevin Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp and all those who bravely speak out against unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that.”
Others on Twitter focused on his attempt to excuse his actions with being drunk.
Nope to Kevin Spacey's statement. Nope. There's no amount of drunk or closeted that excuses or explains away assaulting a 14-year-old child.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) October 30, 2017
Kevin Spacey doesn’t remember the encounter but remembers he was drunk IF it happened…..okay then. pic.twitter.com/U3UpAb0c5U
— D. Parker (@DParker_22) October 30, 2017
Paul Manafort after reading Kevin Spacey news: I don't remember getting money from Russia but if I did, I was probably drunk. Also, I'm gay.
— Em McG (@EmilyMcG87) October 30, 2017
Kevin Spacey treating alleged abuse like you would treat losing your keys when you were drunk last summer is all you really need to know
— Vann R. Newkirk II (@fivefifths) October 30, 2017
hello kevin spacey, "i was drunk and gay" is an excuse for like, table-dancing to britney spears, not attempted paedophilia
— Gov. Gary Johnson (@neoliberals) October 30, 2017
Others also noted that Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy had joked in 2005 about Kevin Spacey’s sexuality in terms of a minor.
Family Guy with the Kevin Spacey reference twelve years ago… creepy. pic.twitter.com/bVbEOLlAwz
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) October 30, 2017
In a series of follow-up tweets after the publication of Buzzfeed’s article, Anthony Rapp said he hoped to make a difference by coming forward with his story.
I came forward with my story, standing on the shoulders of the many courageous women and men who have been speaking out 1/3
— Anthony Rapp (@albinokid) October 30, 2017
to shine a light and hopefully make a difference, as they have done for me. 2/3
— Anthony Rapp (@albinokid) October 30, 2017
Everything I wanted to say about my experience is in that article, and I have no further comment about it at this time.
— Anthony Rapp (@albinokid) October 30, 2017
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