Kevin Spacey Takes Stand To Deny Sexual Abuse Claims In Emotional Testimony
Kevin Spacey gave emotional testimony about his troubled upbringing during his sexual misconduct trial.
This article is more than 2 years old
Canceled actor Kevin Spacey took the stand in his ongoing sexual misconduct civil trial in New York, in which Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp accused him of sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Per Deadline, over the course of his testimony, Kevin Spacey denied that he had been inappropriate with Anthony Rapp in the incident in question for the trial, which occurred in 1986 when Anthony Rapp was 14 years old and Spacey was 24. In addition to his denial, the one-time Netflix star described his own life and abusive childhood at length.
To date, Kevin Spacey has denied all of the many sexual misconduct and assault allegations that have been brought against him, including the ones in the Anthony Rapp trial. According to Rapp, Kevin Spacey had forcibly brought him into a bedroom in his apartment and laid on top of him while intoxicated. Recently, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan threw out the charge of emotional distress against Kevin Spacey from the trial, on the ground that it duplicated the battery charge.
However, the sexual battery charge against Kevin Spacey in the trial is still ongoing. In his testimony, the House of Cards actor intensively described his childhood with an allegedly abusive, homophobic parent who regularly subjected him to racist, Neo-Nazi rants. It is unclear exactly how this might pertain to Anthony Rapp’s accusations, except to build a sympathetic narrative around Kevin Spacey. This would be a familiar tactic for the actor, whose initial reaction to the cavalcade of accusations against him was to come out as openly gay to the public.
At the time, it was widely perceived that this was a move by Kevin Spacey to distract from the allegations and foster sympathy and largely failed to sway public opinion. Since then, the accusations against Kevin Spacey have steadily continued, though few have gone as far as to actually go to trial, like the Anthony Rapp allegations. Over the course of the trial, Kevin Spacey’s legal team has repeatedly tried to undermine Anthony Rapp’s allegations by questioning his choice of media outlet (in this case, Buzzfeed) for his accusations and his recollection of the floor plan of Spacey’s apartment at the plan.
As it stands, Kevin Spacey may be found liable for as much as $40 million in damages, if found guilty in the trial. The trial has been tumultuous so far, with Kevin Spacey openly weeping on the witness stand during his testimony and one of his lawyers contracting Covid-19 during the proceedings. It is one of the more high-profile sexual misconducts in recent years, which makes its outcome that much more unclear and potentially influential.
Since the onslaught of accusations, Kevin Spacey has seen his acting career sharply fall off. Whereas he was once one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed actors for performances in movies like L.A. Confidential and The Usual Suspects, the two-time Academy Award winner has not appeared in a film since 2018. Kevin Spacey does have a number of projects currently in production, but it remains to be seen how widely released they will be, especially pending the results of this trial.
