American actor Kevin Spacey has pleaded not guilty to allegations of sexual offenses allegedly committed against actor Anthony Rapp in a New York court.
“I don’t remember being with him at a private party or being with him in an apartment,” Spacey said Monday, responding to defense attorney questions, at a civil trial session.
Anthony Rapp, now 51, filed a complaint in September 2020 for an alleged sexual assault that took place at a New York party in 1986 when he was 14 years old.
Rapp claims that Kevin Spacey invited him to his Manhattan apartment, where he hugged him while they watched television, laid him on a bed and rubbed against him.
During questioning, Spacey described his father as a “white supremacist” and a “neo-Nazi” – something he had never said publicly before – who did not like homosexuals and did not appreciate his interest in the theater.
Spacey said he felt “shocked, scared and confused” after the accusations launched by Anthony Rapp in 2017 and that he issued a public apology on the recommendation of his agents, something he regrets.
“I learned my lesson: Never apologize for something you didn’t do,” said Spacey, who publicly came out as gay at the time.
“I was accused of trying to change the subject, trying to distract or confuse an accusation with being gay, which was never my intention,” the actor said.
Spacey has been the subject of several cases of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior, in a controversy that sparked complaints with other entertainment figures and was the origin of the #MeToo movement.
Until then a respected figure in American cinema and British theater, the actor was fired from “House of Cards”, where he played the unscrupulous politician Frank Underwood, and removed from the film “All the money in the world”, by Ridley Scott. , with all the scenes he walked into being re-shot by Christopher Plummer.
The two-time Oscar winner is also facing charges in the UK for five sexual offenses committed against three men aged between 30 and 40 between 2005 and 2013.
On July 14, Spacey pleaded not guilty to the charges, in a London court, in a case scheduled for trial on June 6, 2023.
The London police had opened an investigation after receiving complaints of sexual assaults against Spacey, some of which allegedly were committed in the Lambeth area, where the Old Vic theater is located, of which he was artistic director between 2004 and 2015.
In the United States, the actor was charged with indecent assault and sexual assault in the state of Massachusetts.
Spacey was accused of touching the genitals of an 18-year-old bar employee in July 2016 after forcing him to drink alcohol.
The charges were dropped in July 2019.
Source: TSF
