Actor Kevin Spacey acquitted of sexual assault charges in New York. Here are the details
The jury in a New York court found the former House of Cards actor not guilty, dismissing the charges of sexual assault and battery levelled against him by actor Anthony Rapp.
The case was brought by Rapp, who accused the actor of inappropriately touching him at a party in 1986 when he was aged 14. Rapp filed the legal action in September 2020 and had been seeking around $40 million in damages.
Following a three-week civil trial in a Manhattan federal court, the jury found that Rapp had not proved his claim that Mr Spacey had made an unwanted sexual advance and Judge Lewis Kaplan formally dismissed the case.
Since BuzzFeed published allegations made by Rapp in October 2017, the trial was the first of 30 different individuals accusing the two-time Academy Award winner, who now faces multiple felony sexual assault charges, with accounts ranging from harassment to rape.
Since the allegations surfaced, Netflix severed all ties with the actor who served as the lead star of the Netflix original House of Cards, and demanded $31 million in damages from the actor for having to cancel the series.
In a bizarre, creepy video posted by the actor on Christmas Eve 2018 titled “Let Me Be Frank”, Spacey seems to be channeling his House of Cards persona Frank Underwood, to address the allegations and the cancelling of the Netflix original.
Rapp’s allegations came at the onset of Hollywood’s MeToo era and he took to Twitter to say that he stood in solidarity with the many women that who called out producer Harvey Weinstein for multiple counts of sexual assault.
I came forward with my story, standing on the shoulders of the many courageous women and men who have been speaking out 1/3
— Anthony Rapp SAG-AFTRA National & NY Board Member (@albinokid) October 30, 2017
Spacey countered in his own tweet, defending himself by promptly coming as gay and apologising to Rapp for actions he claimed were “inappropriate drunken behaviour”.
— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017
Though in his video, Spacey believes that he shall eventually be vindicated of the accusations, the actor is facing five separate charges in the UK of sexual assault, to which he has pleaded not guilty. That trial is due to begin in June 2023.