Many people know Kevin Spacey for his acclaimed role as Frank Underwood in the hit Netflix series “House of Cards.” If you’ve been neglecting the news lately, I’ll enlighten you to the actor’s abrupt fall from grace.
In a recent Buzzfeed interview, actor Anthony Rapp claimed that in 1986, he was sexually assaulted by Spacey when he was 14 years old. Spacey then responded to the accusation in a horrible fashion on Twitter, writing that if he did what he was accused of, he was sorry and blamed it on being drunk.
There are so many issues with his statement but first, let’s look at what has happened to Spacey after the accusation.
Spacey has been stripped of an International Emmy Award and has been fired and immediately recast in “All the Money in the World,” just weeks ahead of its release date which is unprecedented in the film industry. “House of Cards” will also be ending after the next season because of Spacey.
Spacey is seeing consequences in wake of these allegations against him. Rapp isn’t the only person to accuse Spacey and I’m glad to finally see some gears turning in the secretive Hollywood machine that likes to cover up sexual assault.
Furthermore, Spacey used the incident to tell everyone he is gay and announced that he was coming out on Twitter. It takes a lot of courage to come out, so good for him. However, living as a gay man does not excuse what Spacey allegedly did to a child.
Being gay has nothing to do with sexual assault and by addressing his sexuality in response to Rapp’s allegations, Spacey has perpetuated an unfounded myth about gay men and pedophilia—a tactic that has been historically used to demonize and hurt people in the LGBTQ+ community.
I found myself logging out of my Twitter account in anger after reading what Spacey said. Too long has society pardoned abusers and silenced victims, especially children.
I don’t care about Spacey’s sexual preference. I care about his actions and lack of personal responsibility. I care about Rapp and the pain he endured and I hope that Hollywood’s response means that we can hold people in power accountable.
Needless to say, Kevin Spacey won’t be gracing our screens anytime soon—his “House of Cards” is tumbling down and so is my respect for him.
Click here for more from the Torch’s opinions section or click here to get to know Marley.