Anthony Rapp, a fellow actor, has accused Kevin Spacey of sexually abusing him when he was a minor. Kevin Spacey appeared in a New York court on Thursday to answer the charge.
Star of Star Trek: Discovery Rapp, now 50, accused Spacey of making advances and allegedly assaulting him sexually at a party in Manhattan in 1986 when he was 14 years old.
The 63-year-old House of Cards star has consistently refuted the accusation. Rapp demands $40 million (£36 million) in damages.
Rapp’s attorney Peter Saghir stated during the case’s opening statements before the jury of six men and six women, presided over by Judge Lewis Kaplan, that Spacey, who was then in his late 20s, committed “unacceptable” acts against his client, who was then a teenager, “intentionally to satisfy the drive of his sexual desires.”
According to Mr. Saghir, the alleged assault at Spacey’s apartment in New York “never should have happened.” He was fourteen years old.
After the allegation surfaced in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which brought attention to widespread sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry, Spacey, who later went on to star in movies like The Usual Suspects and American Beauty, has maintained a relatively low profile.
Rapp discussed his accusation with BuzzFeed News in an interview from last month.
In a statement posted online, Spacey apologized to Rapp for any “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior” and insisted that he did not remember the alleged incident.
Rapp filed a civil lawsuit after a judge dismissed a criminal sexual assault charge against him in 2020.
Rapp argues in court documents that Spacey lifted him during the party 35 years ago and his hand “grazed” his buttocks. After that, according to him, Spacey “briefly placed his own clothed body partially beside and partially across” his own before setting him back down on a bed.
According to him, during the brief two-minute alleged incident, there was “no kissing, no undressing, no reaching under clothes, and no sexualized statements or innuendo.”
Spacey’s behavior, according to his attorney, was “wrong and frankly unacceptable.” This was not a game, he clarified.
But Jennifer Keller, Spacey’s own attorney, told the jury that the alleged assault “never happened at all.”
She claimed Rapp had done so for “attention [and] sympathy” because he had never achieved international stardom, noting how he had “repeated the same false story over the years [but] never repeated it to the police.”
In an email to AFP, Ms. Keller previously stated: “We look forward to his vindication by an impartial jury.”
Two weeks are anticipated for the trial, and if Spacey is found guilty, he could face serious penalties.
A judge ordered Spacey to pay House of Cards producers $31 million (£25.5 million) in August to cover the costs of removing him from the show after numerous allegations of sexual misconduct.
In July, he made an appearance at the Old Bailey in London to “strenuously” refute claims of sexual assault made by three other men dating back to a time when Spacey was the artistic director of The Old Vic theater, which was 17 years ago.
A pre-hearing is anticipated to happen early in the following year, and the trial will happen in June 2023.
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