Netflix has responded to recent allegations that Kevin Spacey – who stars in the streaming service’s political drama House of Cards – made an unwanted sexual advance toward actor Anthony Rapp in 1986.
“Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey,” Netflix and Media Rights Capital told Us Weekly in a statement on Monday, October 30. “In response to last night’s revelations, executives from both of our companies arrived in Baltimore this afternoon to meet with our cast and crew to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported. As previously scheduled, Kevin Spacey is not working on set at this time.”
The sixth season will be the series’ last, Deadline reported on Monday, October 30, adding that production of the final season began earlier this month.
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 with a lengthy statement on Twitter. “I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor,” he wrote. “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.”
“As those closest to me know, in my life, I have had relationships with both men and women,” he continued. “I have loved and had romantic relationships with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.”
The statement was heavily criticized by several celebrities who took issue with his decision to come out as gay as a response to sexual assault allegations, as well as his use of the word “choose” in regard to his sexuality. “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!”
