46-year-old actor Anthony Rapp, star of the new Star Trek: Discovery series, has shockingly alleged in an interview with Buzzfeed that he was sexually harassed by House of Cards actor Kevin Spacey as a 14 year-old in 1986.
In the interview he alleges that, a then 26 year-old, Kevin Spacey took him initially to a nightclub in New York, along with a 17 year-old friend of his. At the nightclub Kevin Spacey invited, the then 14 year-old, Anthony Rapp to a party he would be hosting in his apartment a few days later. Anthony Rapp accepted the invitation and went along to the party.
He says that at the party he was not too surprised to find that he was the only underage guest in attendance, as being a child actor, he describes it as a situation that he was relatively used to. He describes how he quickly became bored with the party however and ended up wandering into Kevin Spacey's bedroom to watch television. After a while he noticed Mr. Spacey standing in the doorway and realised that, by this stage, all of the other party guests had left.
He describes the ensuing incident in his interview with Buzzfeed:
“My memory was that I thought, Oh, everybody's gone. Well, yeah, I should probably go home,” Rapp said. Spacey, he recalled, “sort of stood in the doorway, kind of swaying. My impression when he came in the room was that he was drunk.” Rapp doesn't remember Spacey saying anything to him. Instead, Rapp said, “He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. 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.”
“He was trying to seduce me,” Rapp said. “I don't know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”
After pushing Spacey off him, Rapp remembered he was able to step into the bathroom and close the door. "I was like, 'What is happening?'” he said. “I saw on the counter next to the sink a picture of him having his arm around a man. So I think on some level I was like, Oh. He's gay. I guess.Then I opened the door, and I was like, 'OK, I'm going to go home now.' He followed me to the front door of the apartment, and as I opened the door to leave, he was leaning on the front door[frame]. And he was like, 'Are you sure you wanna go?' I said, 'Yes, good night,' and then I did leave."
Rapp said the incident left him traumatised, but that he managed to initially suppress it. However, as Spacey's career began to take off Rapp describes how he was no longer able to ignore the memory due to Spacey's fame, and indeed, with his own career taking off, he became terrified at the thought of their paths crossing again or of having to work together.
Following this revelation, Kevin Spacey released the following statement:
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— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017
While Kevin Spacey has to be commended on some level for how forthright and prompt his response was, it is somewhat concerning to see him try and dovetail his homosexuality with the fact that he made sexual advances on a minor, as if to use one to deflect the other, or indeed to correlate the two.
Anthony Rapp describes how he was inspired to come forward about his experience following the dozens of women who have recounted their experiences of abuse at the hands of Harvey Weinstein. He hopes that by opening up about his own experiences, in light of the Harvey Weinstein allegations, the acting world can hopefully be inspired to begin to take steps to eliminate such predatory behaviour.
H/T: Buzzfeed
