Kevin Spacey has Emmy taken away from him following Anthony Rapp’s sexual misconduct allegations
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An Emmy has been taken away from Kevin Spacey, following allegations of sexual misconduct against a 14-year-old.
Star Trek star Anthony Rapp claimed that in 1986, when he was 14, Spacey invited him to a party at his New York apartment and climbed on top of him, “trying to get with me sexually.”
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Rapp, now 46, said he managed to flee before the encounter progressed any further.
Anthony Rapp
In response, Spacey wrote on Twitter that he didn’t remember the incident, but apologised for “what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour.”
The House of Cards star added that he was “sorry for the feelings he [Rapp] describes having carried with him all these years,” before saying: “I choose now to live as a gay man.”
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Stars from Hollywood and beyond condemned Spacey, not just for the alleged misconduct, but also for coming out during his apology.
Zachary Quinto, who starred alongside Spacey in 2011 film Margin Call, accused the star of “calculated manipulation,” while Sue Perkins said he had “set back the LGBT+ community”.
And now the International TV Academy has withdrawn an honour it was due to give Spacey.
The American Beauty actor was due to be handed the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award in three weeks, on November 20, at a glamorous event in New York.
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The Academy released a statement simply saying that “in light of recent events it will not honour Kevin Spacey with the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award.”
Mexican media mogul Emilio Azcárraga Jean is still due to receive the award, which recognises people’s contributions to television around the world.
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The International Emmy Awards shines a light on TV made outside the US.
Previous recipients of the award include Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, J.J. Abrams and Bill Cosby.
Kevin Spacey and Laura Dern (Getty)
In the wake of the allegations and Spacey’s response, Netflix also announced that House of Cards would be ending after its sixth season.
A representative for Netflix said yesterday that the streaming company was “deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey.”
In response to the news breaking yesterday, Billy Eichner, of American Horror Story, said: “That Kevin Spacey statement. Nope. Absolutely not. Nope.
“Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out.”
(Twitter/billyeichner)
(Twitter/billyeichner)
Comedian Cameron Esposito wrote: “Just wanna be really f***ing clear that being gay has nothing to do w/ going after underage folks”.
She added: “I have not chosen to live my life as a gay woman.
“I’m a gay woman, living my life.”
(Twitter/cameronesposito)
Sue Perkins, the British TV host who opened up earlier this year about coming out, was scathing, accusing Spacey of harming the LGBT community.
She said: “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.
“In doing so, you simultaneously undervalue the horrific nature of the allegation and set back the LGBT+ community. Well done.”
(Twitter/sueperkins)
(Twitter/sueperkins)
