Kevin Spacey To Pay Ridiculous Amount Of Money Over Sexual Misconduct Allegations
Kevin Spacey's legal team tried to vacate a huge financial decision, but the actor still has to pay millions after misconduct allegations.
This article is more than 2 years old
Kevin Spacey is on the hook for a staggering $31 million in damages, costs, and fees related to sexual misconduct allegations arising from his time on the Netflix drama House of Cards. Per Deadline, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recan enforced a decision that had been previously made in arbitration, essentially confirming the amount being contested by Kevin Spacey’s legal team. This is the latest setback in the actor’s previously acclaimed career, which swiftly came crumbling down after a series of allegations against him began in 2017.
The ruling made by Judge Recan consisted of fourteen pages and included a note that Kevin Spacey had failed to make even “a close case” why the decision of $31 million in damages made by arbitrator Bruce Friedman should be vacated. Kevin Spacey’s attorney claimed that Friedman’s use of “external” evidence to make his decision should invalidate it. However, Judge Recan stated that he could not infer that Friedman’s decision was based on anything but the merits of the parties’ agreements, i.e., that external sources affected it. The arbitration decision thus stands, and Kevin Spacey has been ordered to pay millions to MRC, the production company behind House of Cards.
In 2017, actor Anthony Rapp publicly accused Kevin Spacey of making an apparently drunken sexual advance toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old. This opened a floodgate of claims and allegations of sexual misconduct against Spacey, including a number from crew members of House of Cards. An investigation by MRC resulted in Kevin Spacey first being suspended, then fired from the show, with a final season being rewritten to fit in his absence. The arbitrator in the subsequent case found that Kevin Spacey was in breach of agreements as an executive producer and actor on the show because of his interactions with the crew members, hence the settlement.
After the initial allegations by Rapp, Kevin Spacey was dropped by his talent agency Creative Artists Agency and his publicist Staci Wolfe. He was also fired from a number of film projects, including House of Cards, which had largely been built around his character, corrupt politician Frank Underwood. Most famously, he was removed from the Ridley Scott film All the Money in the World, in which he was to portray American tycoon J. Paul Getty. As Kevin Spacey’s scenes had already been shot, he was replaced by Christopher Plummer and the sequences were refilmed entirely.
Since then, Kevin Spacey has largely been persona non grata in an industry that once held him in high esteem. He had recently begun to show signs of attempting a comeback and was announced to be starring in several projects. While some of those productions have stood by Kevin Space, he has been dropped from at least one after public outcry. At least for now, it seems that Kevin Spacey’s attempt to get the decision for MRC’s damages vacated is dead in the water and he will be obligated to pay them the colossal sum of $31 million.
