House of Cards creator Beau Willimon has responded to allegations that the Netflix political drama’s star Kevin Spacey made an unwanted sexual advance toward actor Anthony Rapp in 1986.
“Anthony Rapp’s story is deeply troubling,” the screenwriter, 40, said in a statement posted on Twitter on Monday, October 30. “During he time I worked with Kevin Spacey on House of Cards I neither witnessed nor was aware of any inappropriate behavior on set or off. That said, I take reports of such behavior seriously, and this is no exception. I feel for Mr. Rapp and I support his courage.”
My statement regarding Anthony Rapp and Kevin Spacey: pic.twitter.com/8z6zotHWE5
— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) October 30, 2017
Rapp, 46, claimed in an interview with BuzzFeed News published on Sunday, October 29, that Spacey, 58, invited him to his apartment in New York City for a party in 1986, when they were both starring in separate Broadway shows. Rapp, who was 14 at the time, alleged that Spacey, then 26, laid “down on top” of him in a bedroom and “was trying to get with me sexually.”
The two-time Oscar winner responded to the allegations soon after. “I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor,” he said in a statement on Twitter. “I’m beyond horrified to hear his story. I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.”
Spacey came out as gay in the second half of his statement, writing, “As those closes to me know, in my life, I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic relationships with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.”
His response drew criticism from many celebrities and social media users. “Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out,” Billy Eichner tweeted. Wanda Sykes responded, “No no no no no! You do not get to ‘choose’ to hide under the rainbow! Kick rocks!”
