Rapp: Spacey Made Sexual Advance Toward Me
3 min read
Star Trek: Discovery Anthony Rapp has come forward with an accusation against actor Kevin Spacey; namely that Spacey made a sexual advance towards him when he was only fourteen.
Rapp came forward after earlier accusations against Hollywood’s Harvey Weinstein, and the #Metoo campaign that followed, in which sexual abuse victims came forward with their stories, sometimes years after the abuse happened.
I come forward “not to simply air a grievance,” said Rapp, “but to try to shine another light on the decades of behavior that have been allowed to continue because many people, including myself, being silent. I’m feeling really awake to the moment that we’re living in, and I’m hopeful that this can make a difference.”
In 1986, at a party at Spacey’s apartment, Rapp found himself alone with Spacey in Spacey’s bedroom. “My memory was that I thought, Oh, everybody’s gone. Well, yeah, I should probably go home,” said Rapp. Spacey, “sort of stood in the doorway, kind of swaying. My impression when he came in the room was that he was drunk.” Then “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,” said Rapp. “I don’t know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”
Rapp was able to get away and he left the apartment. “My head was spinning,” he said. “I have a memory of turning around and [thinking], What was that? What am I supposed to do with it? What does it mean?
“The older I get, and the more I know, I feel very fortunate that something worse didn’t happen,” he said. “And at the same time, the older I get, the more I can’t believe it. I could never imagine [that] anyone else I know would do something like that to a fourteen-year-old boy.”
“In 1986, these things weren’t talked about very openly very much, except for maybe in an after-school-special kind of way,” said Rapp, explaining why he decided to share his story now. “There’s so much more openness about talking about these issues, and so many people are coming forward and sharing their stories. The oxygen in the room is there for us to really do something about it.
“I came forward with my story, standing on the shoulders of the many courageous women and men who have been speaking out; to shine a light and hopefully make a difference as they have done for me.”
Spacey posted on Twitter today saying that he “honestly [did] not remember the encounter, it would have been over thirty years ago. But if I did behave then as he describes,” he said, “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 then decided to “come out,” revealing that he chooses “to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly,” he said, “and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior.”
Star Trek: Beyond‘s Zachary Quinto was not happy with Spacey’s tweet though. “It is deeply sad and troubling that this is how Kevin Spacey has chosen to come out,” he said. “Not by standing up as a point of pride – in the light of his many awards and accomplishments – thus inspiring tens of thousands of struggling LGBTQ kids around the world – but as a calculated manipulation to deflect attention from the very serious accusation that he attempted to molest one.
“I am sorry to hear of Anthony Rapp’s experience and subsequent suffering…May Anthony Rapp’s voice be the one which is amplified here. Victim’s voices are the ones that deserve to be heard.”
Fellow Discovery actor Jason Isaac spoke out in support of Rapp. “The fierce, honest, brave @albinokid,” he said via Twitter. “My on-screen irritation and off-screen inspiration. #AlwaysTheRightTimeToTell.”
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