The world of cinema comes with its share of grit along with the glamour. This was exposed to the world even more after the Harvey Weinstein scandal where multiple actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Rose McGowan took a courageous step and came forward with their stories of being sexually harassed by the producer.
Following this, many other men and women irrespective of being from Hollywood or Bollywood found the courage to stand up to their harassers and raised a voice against them. Another unfortunate incident of the same has come to light regarding actor Kevin Spacey.
‘House of Cards’ actor Kevin Spacey was accused by Anthony Rapp of sexual assault when Rapp was 14-years-old and Spacey was 26. The incident took place in 1986 when Kevin Spacey invited the ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ actor to a party at his apartment.
After the party was over and all the adults had left, he alleged that Spacey picked him up like ‘a groom picks up a bride over the threshold’ and laid on top of him. It took him some time to realise what happened.
As reported by DNA, he said,
“He was trying to seduce me. I don’t know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”
It was not until he got a little older that Anthony Rapp was able to wrap his head around what happened to him so many years ago. He expressed his disgust over Spacey’s advancements towards a minor and said,
He also took to Twitter to say that he finally chose to speak up on the issue after so many courageous men and women came out with their stories of sexual harassment with #MeToo.
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
However, his allegations did not go unnoticed as Kevin Spacey replied to them via a letter he posted on Twitter and said that while he does not remember the incident, he owed him an apology for his “inappropriate drunken behaviour”.
— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017
“I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.”
Kevin Spacey has undoubtedly trivialised Anthony Rapp’s courageous step to come out about his sexual assault by making it about his “choice” to live as a gay man. Also, being drunk is not an excuse for sexually assaulting someone. Period.
Cover Image Source: Netflix