A jury of New York discovered this Thursday that Kevin Spacey he is not responsible for sexual assault after the lawsuit filed by actor Anthony Rapp, who sought compensation of $ 40 million. The jury deliberated for a little over an hour and found it Rapp could not prove an act of harassment by the actor. The verdict came after a three-week trial in Manhattan federal court.
The jury said Spacey did not touch a sexual or intimate part of Rapp, which means they could not hold him accountable under the Law on child victimsas the complainant was 14 at the time of the alleged attack in 1986.
The process revolved around Rapp’s story of one night that year in which he attended a party in the actor’s apartment. “House of cards “ in New York, during a Broadway season in which they both starred in plays. space, who was 26 at the time, He denied that such a meeting ever took place.
The defendant stated that he had met Rapp and another aspiring actor, John Barrowmanbehind the scenes after a Broadway performance in the show “Long journey of one day into the night “. She admitted taking them to dinner, to a nightclub and finally to her study, where she flirted with Barrowman, who was 19, but he showed no interest in Rapp before the two visitors left.
Jennifer Keller, Spacey’s attorney, said in closing arguments that Rapp’s story it was an invention y put forward several theories to explain why the actor lied, including a desire for attention or jealousy for Spacey’s success as an actor. “Mr. Rapp is getting more attention in this process than in his entire life as an actor. “said the lawyer, about the protagonist of “Star Trek: Discovery “.
Rapp: “I knew something was wrong”
Rapp said his meeting with Spacey came after a party at the actor’s house in Manhattan, when all the guests had left. He ensured that Spacey appeared at the bedroom door – where he was watching television -, laid him on the bed and climbed on top of him, pressing him with his weight.
“I knew there was really something wrongRapp said in court, recalling feeling stuck in place. After getting out of the situation, he locked himself in a nearby bathroom and then ran away from the apartment.
The actor assured that this problem struck him and claimed it was the “most traumatic event of their life. Whenever he saw Spacey appear on screen, Rapp said, that situation immediately came to mind. And he added that seeing the Spacey character show sexual interest in a teen in the film “American beauty” -for which he won an Oscar- was “uncomfortably familiar”.
Spacey said he was gay after his father died
For his part, the two-time Oscar winner testified in court on Monday and revealed that andHe waited 58 years to declare himself gay because his father was a white supremacist and neo-Nazi who would never accept him.
“I had a very complicated family dynamic,” Spacey said, adding that his father’s mind was likely damaged during a spell of unemployment after trying to be a creative writer.
“My father was a white supremacist and neo-Nazi, which means that my brothers and I have been forced to listen to my father for hours and hours teaching us his beliefs.Said the 63-year-old actor.
Spacey said it was “humiliating and scary when his friends visited him at home”Because he was never sure what his father would say to them or to him.
“Everything that happened in that house was something I had to keep to myself. I have never, ever talked about this. I’ve never talked about it publicly. “he repeated in front of the jury.
In fact, he said that when he became interested in the theater, he had to endure the attacks of his father, who “He scolded me at the thought that I might be gay. “
The other charges awaiting trial
Spacey is also accused in addition to sexual violence against three men in the UK. The complaint implies five charges against him, for events that would have occurred between 2005 and 2013.
The first two charges concern alleged sexual assaults on a man, now in his forties, a Londonin March 2005. A second alleged victim, a man in his thirties, was allegedly attacked in the same city three years later.
A third complaint assures that the plaintiff sexually assaulted another alleged victim Gloucestershire in April 2013. The accusation of sexual offense, which led a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without his consent, also concerns the second alleged victim.
Although the Crown Prosecution Service authorized the charges against Spacey, He has not been formally charged as he is not in that country.
