American actor Kevin Spacey arrives at the Manhattan Federal Court in New York on October 6, 2022 to face a civil trial after American actor Anthony Rapp was charged with sexual assault when he was 14 in 1986. (AFP / ANGELA WEISS)
Lost Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey, in a civil trial in New York, confronted American comedian Anthony Rapp on Friday who accused him of sexual assault when he was 14 in 1986 and is now asking him for $ 40 million.
Five years after the #Metoo wave that wiped out the two-time Oscar-winning movie star in the fall of 2017, his prosecutor Anthony Rapp, 50, told the Manhattan Civil Court jury about his evening. ” disturbing “at over 35 years old.
Rapp was then 14 and an apprentice Broadway actor. Spacey is also a young stage actor, an almost unknown of just 27 years.
Teen Rapp and young Spacey meet in the backstage of a New York theater and the latter invites him a week later for dinner with friends in his Manhattan studio.
American actor Anthony Rapp (left) arrives in court in Manhattan, New York, on October 6, 2022, to attend the civil trial of American actor Kevin Spacey who accuses him of sexual assault when Mr. Rapp was 14 in 1986 ( AFP / ANGELA WEISS)
Once the guests have left the small party, Rapp sits on the edge of the bed, the TV on.
Kevin Spacey “approached me, with a somewhat hesitant gait, led me as a groom carries his bride,” testified Mr. Rapp on the second day of the civil trial.
According to a deposition from Rapp last June, Spacey had “lifted” him and “his hand (had) + rubbed + the garment covering his buttocks for a few seconds.” Then, Spacey had “laid Rapp on the bed, on his back, before lying down fully clothed, briefly, beside and on top” of him.
On Friday, Anthony Rapp reiterated that Kevin Spacey hugged him and felt “his groin” against his teenage body. “I felt like he was going on for a long time, I felt paralyzed,” the “Star Trek: Discovery” actor said in a shaky voice, that he had managed to “extricate himself” and leave the studio.
Anthony Rapp claims $ 40 million in damages from Kevin Spacey.
On Thursday, Rapp’s attorney, Peter Saghir, accused the actor of the “usual suspects” and the “House of Cards” of “deliberately” trying that night in 1986 to “indulge his sexual desires.”
But in this civil case – the criminal case was dropped after Rapp’s filing in September 2020 – the original “sexual assault” charge was dismissed by US federal justice.
The facts are considered prescribed and are outside the scope of a 2019 New York State Child Protection Act, which may extend the statute of limitations.
Justice upheld Anthony Rapp’s “damaging physical integrity” charge for causing “emotional distress”.
