The star of “House of Cards” was accused of having, in 1986, “affected the private parts” of actor Anthony then rapping 14 years. The latter was dismissed by a New York Civil Court.
Le Monde
The case, released at the very beginning of the #MeToo phenomenon, had made Kevin Spacey a Hollywood fallen star. His outcome is a victory for the actor of House of Cards. The popular jury of a civil court in New York dismissed actor Anthony Rapp on Thursday, October 20, who accused Kevin Spacey of having subjected him to sexual touching when he was a teenager. The jury rendered its decision after a short deliberate, postponing the requests of Anthony Rapp, 50, which claimed $ 40 million in damages.
Shortly after reading the deliberation, Kevin Spacey left the court, rushing into the back of a black vehicle without making reports to journalists. Mr. Rapp was apparently released from the back of the Manhattan courthouse and his lawyers did not say a word.
“Mr. Spacey is satisfied to live in a country where citizens have the right to be judged by impartial jurors who make their decision on evidence and not on rumors or on social networks”, Rejoiced his lawyer Jennifer Keller. She welcomed herself in an email at the France-Presse agency of a “fast and clear verdict” and that “justice was done”.
The case, revealed at the end of October 2017, at the very beginning of the #MeToo speech release phenomenon on sexual violence, had been followed by other accusations of sexual assault against the actor, causing his setting The gap in the world of the show.
Other prosecution against the actor
But the one who embodied a politician ready to do anything to acquire power in Washington, in the series with planetary success of Netflix House of Cards, has not finished with legal troubles. The 63 -year -old actor is still prosecuted for sexual assault against three men between March 2005 and April 2013, when he was director of a London theater, and for which he pleaded not guilty last July.
In New York, the popular jury of 11 people – the 12
Anthony Rapp, who plays in the Star Trek series: Discovery was then 14 years old, while Kevin Spacey was 26. At the time, both played on Broadway boards in New York, in two distinct shows. The two actors were present throughout the trial, since its beginning on October 6, and maintained their version of the facts.
Anthony Rapp assured that during the evening at Kevin Spacey, the actor had subjected him to a trauma by taking him in his arms and carrying him “like a groom wears his bride”, before putting him on his read and go to bed briefly against him, all dressed. According to a June prescription which recorded the facts, “his hand” had “rubbed the clothes covering a few seconds [the] buttocks” by Anthony Rapp.
Kevin Spacey, revealed to the general public for his roles in Seven (1995) and Usual Suspects (1996, Oscar for best supporting role), then devoted in 2000 by an Oscar for best actor (American Beauty), vigorously disputed the accusations. “This is not true!” He assured Tuesday, during his counter-examination led by the lawyer of Anthony Rapp.
He said that he had met Mr. Rapp in May 1986, but with another actor, John Barrowman, 19 at the time, and that he had flirted with the second but not with the first.
Why then did he apologize in October 2017 – while saying that he did not remember the facts – when the case had been revealed? Mr. Spacey explained that he had done so on the recommendation of his agents. At the time, he used the opportunity to reveal his homosexuality, which had earned him even more criticism, some accusing him of seeking to divert attention.
Before the court, Kevin Spacey explained that his homosexuality had always been a difficult subject for him, in particular because of the rejection of his father, which he described as “white supremacist” and “neonazi”.