Sue Perkins slams Kevin Spacey for ‘setting back’ the LGBT community
LGBT icon and presenter Sue Perkins has slammed Kevin Spacey for “setting back” the LGBT community.
Spacey, who has been accused of acting inappropriately with a male actor when he was fourteen years old, released a statement in which he apologised for his actions.
At the end of the statement, he came out as gay.
Out comic Sue Perkins wrote on Twitter that the star coming out in a statement about sexual assault suggests a “conflation” between his sexuality and sexual behaviour.
“Well done Kev. You stay silent on your sexuality until the time comes when you can conflate it with an alleged sexual assault on a minor,” she wrote.
“In doing so, you simultaneously undervalue the horrific nature of the allegation and set back the LGBT+ community. Well done,” she added.
The full statement which the actor released about the incident reads:
“I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor. 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 then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour, and I am sorry for all of the feelings he describes having carried over him all of these years.
This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life. I know that there are stories out there about me and that some have been fuelled by the fact that I have been so protective about my own privacy. As those closest to me know, in my life I have had both relationships with men and women. I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and now I choose to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts by examinig my own behaviour.”
“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,” Rapp said to Buzzfeed News.
“He was trying to seduce me… I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”
