Kevin Spacey insists on his innocence.
According to NBC News, while testifying in his sexual misconduct civil trial, the House of Cards actor denied ever groping Anthony Rapp, calling the allegations “not true.”
Rapp, 50, filed the lawsuit in 2020, seeking up to $40 million in compensatory and punitive damages. There are no criminal charges involved.
Spacey, 63, also discussed his childhood and his strained relationship with his father during his testimony, calling his upbringing “humiliating and terrifying,” according to Deadline.
“My father was a white supremacist and neo-Nazi,” Spacey testified in court, recounting how he was “forced to listen to hours and hours and hours” of his parents’ hateful rhetoric. He also stated that he was too embarrassed to bring school friends over because he was afraid his father would go on a racist rant.
“I have never talked about these things publicly, ever,” he allegedly added.
Spacey, whom Rapp previously referred to as a “fraud” for not coming out as gay until 2017, testified that he struggled with his sexuality as a result of his father’s far-right views.
“My father used to yell at me about the possibility that I was gay,” he continued. “He’d yell at me, ‘don’t be an a’… he’d use a f word that was very derogatory to the gay community.”
In response to Rapp’s “fraud” claim, Spacey insisted he wasn’t lying about who he was, but was simply protecting himself.
“To call someone a ‘fraud’ is, I guess, to say that you think they’re living a lie,” he told NBC News. “I wasn’t lying; I was just afraid to talk about my personal life.”
“We have to have empathy… for everyone’s process of coming out,” Spacey added.
Rapp first publicly accused Spacey of sexual misconduct in a 2017 BuzzFeed News article, accusing the actor of making unwanted sexual advances on him when he was 14 years old. The Rent alum claimed that Spacey, then 26, invited him to a party at his home in New York City, where Spacey allegedly put his body on top of his in a sexual manner, which Rapp also testified about in court on Oct. 11.
In response to the Buzzfeed article, Spacey issued a statement on Twitter saying he didn’t recall the encounter but that “if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the most heartfelt apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour.”
During the 2022 trial, Spacey clarified that he issued the statement after his publicity team allegedly advised him that if he pushed back, he would be labelled a victim blamer.
According to CNN, the actor testified, “I was encouraged to apologise, and I’ve learned a lesson, which is never apologise for something you didn’t do.” “I apologise for my entire statement.”
Rapp was not the first man to publicly accuse Spacey of sexual misconduct. In 2018, Spacey was charged with felony indecent assault and battery, to which he pleaded not guilty. According to court documents obtained by E!, the charge was later dropped due to the “unavailability of the complaining witness.” At the time, this was news.
The actor was then charged with four counts of sexual assault against three men in the United Kingdom just this past May. Spacey was granted unconditional bail during his June 16 court appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
According to NPR, Spacey pled not guilty to these charges one month later.
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