Kevin Spacey Apologizes For Alleged Predatory Behavior, Media Focus On His “Coming Out” Instead

Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey won an Academy award for his role in 1999’s ‘American Beauty’ in which he played a middle-aged man obsessed with a teenage girl.

In an exclusive interview with Buzzfeed, actor Anthony Rapp made a stunning allegation against two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey:

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Rapp is publicly alleging for the first time that in 1986, Spacey befriended Rapp while they both performed on Broadway shows, invited Rapp over to his apartment for a party, and, at the end of the night, picked Rapp up, placed him on his bed, and climbed on top of him, making a sexual advance. According to public records, Spacey was 26. Rapp was 14.

[…]

Rapp recalled this all happening — Spacey appearing at the door, coming into the room, picking him up, and putting him on the bed — in one clumsy action, with Spacey landing at a slight angle on top of him. He said Spacey “was, like, pressing into me,” and that he remembers Spacey “tightening his arms.” But while he can’t recall exactly how long Spacey remained on top of him, Rapp said he was able to “squirm” away after a short period.

Spacey responded to Rapp’s claims on Twitter:

Spacey’s “coming out” on the heels of apologizing to Rapp was for behavior he says he doesn’t remember was, unfortunately, the early focus for the mainstream media:

The Washington Post wrote about the outrage from the LGBT community over Spacey choosing this moment to admit that he was gay:

His late-night statement outraged many, particularly in the LGBT community, who accused Spacey of trying to deflect from a serious accusation — making a sexual advance on a minor — by coming out and implying that it was his choice to be gay.

Even worse, they said, was the implication that the two might be related in any way.

“Kevin Spacey has set gay rights back fifty years by a) conflating homosexuality with” Rupp’s allegations, one Twitter user said, “and b) Saying that being gay is a ‘choice.’ ”

Not mentioned in the Post’s piece, naturally, was that the way the media chose to report this story initially added fuel to the “gay predator” stereotype fire, as gay conservative Gabriel Malor pointed out in a blistering series of tweets.

Left out of much of the reporting on Rapp’s allegations and Spacey’s response is the possibility Spacey’s alleged predatory behavior was known in Hollywood circles for quite some time but kept under the rug a la Harvey Weinstein:

12 years ago? Over to you, Corey Feldman.

(Originally published at American Lens)