- Culture
- 31 Oct 17
The house of cards are crumbling down for the Hollywood superstar following his bizarrely worded apology yesterday over claims he tried to force himself on a minor back in the 1980s.
Spacey was to receive the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award in New York next month, but it was revoked this morning.
"The International Academy has announced today that in light of recent events it will not honour Kevin Spacey with the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award," The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences said in a statement on its website.
The controversy kicked off on Sunday when Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp publicly claimed that he was left "traumatised" when a drunken Kevin Spacey made inappropriate sexual advances to him when he was only a teenage boy back in the 1980s.
It prompted Kevin Spacey to take to Twitter yesterday morning to offer a public apology and, in the process, candidly discuss his own sexuality for the first time ever.
"I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave then 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 wrote.
But the apology has spectacularly backfired on Spacey who is now not only being heavily criticised for the wording of his public apology issued on Twitter but also accused of trying to "deflect" from the claims made against him by his sudden decision to come out as a gay man.
As part of his apology yesterday morning, Spacey had said: "As those closest to me know, in my life I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behaviour."
Spacey is also being heavily criticised for his bizarre attempt to blame the fact that he was drunk for the sordid "sexual advance" on such a young boy.
Rapp had originally told about the scary episode with Spacey (without revealing his name) all the way back in 2001.
Rapp says he was inspired by all the women bravely coming forward about Harvey Weinstein to tell his own story.
He recounted how Spacey brought him to a nightclub when he was only 14-years-old and afterward invited him, along with others, back to his place.
"My impression when he came in the room was that he was drunk ... He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. But I don’t, like, squirm away initially, because I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then he lays down on top of me," he told BuzzFeed.
Rapp says that Spacey was trying to "seduce" him but he was able to "squirm" out of it and absconded.
Rapp said he was terrified by the experience, which he described as “a frozen moment ... In terms of fight or flight or freeze, I tend to freeze.
“As I opened the door to leave, he was leaning on the front door[frame]. And he was like, ‘Are you sure you wanna go?’ I said, ‘Yes, good night,’ and then I did leave,” Rapp said.
Rapp claims that that he would become distressed every time he spotted Spacey on the big screen because it brought on flashbacks of the night in question. He also said he dreaded the thought of having to ever work with Spacey.
Rapp said he considered taking legal action over the ordeal but was told by legal eagles that he didn't have a proverbial leg to stand on, as it would essentially be his word against another actor's.
"I came forward with my story, standing on the shoulders of the many courageous women and men who have been speaking out, to shine a light and hopefully make a difference, as they have done for me," he said on social media after the interview went viral.
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 (@albinokid) October 30, 2017
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