Kevin Spacey ‘sexually harassed House of Cards employees’
(Netflix)
Kevin Spacey sexually harassed numerous people on the House of Cards set, turning it into a “toxic” environment, eight people have claimed.
One staffer, a former production assistant, said that Spacey sexually assaulted him during one of the early seasons of the show.
All eight employees called Spacey’s behaviour “predatory,” adding that it included non-consensual touching and sexual comments.
(Netflix)
The two-time Oscar winner, who is executive producer on the show, generally targeted production staff who were young and male, they said.
British police are currently investigating an allegation of sexual assault made against Spacey.
An alleged victim claimed today that after being invited to Spacey’s London home for a drink in 2008, he passed out – and woke to find the Hollywood star performing oral sex on him.
(Netflix)
The Seven star has been dropped by both his publicist and talent agency following numerous allegations.
One of the eight former and current House of Cards staffers, a production assistant, said that Spacey sexually assaulted while he was bringing the actor from an offsite location to the set.
Just minutes away from their destination, with Spacey driving the car, the star of the show put his hands down the staffer’s trousers, he said.
(Netflix)
The touching was not consensual, he added, recalling: “I was in a state of shock.
“He was a man in a very powerful position on the show, and I was someone very low on the totem pole”.
After helping to take Spacey’s belongings from the car to the actor’s trailer, Spacey cornered him in the trailer, he said, blocking his escape and making inappropriate contact with him.
“I told him: ‘I don’t think I’m ok with this, I don’t think I’m comfortable with this,'” he said.
(Netflix)
Spacey then became “visibly flustered,” fled the trailer, went to his car and drove off, not coming back for the rest of the day, the production assistant said.
“I have no doubt that this type of predatory behaviour was routine for him and that my experience was one of many and that Kevin had few if any qualms about exploiting his status and position,” he continued.
“It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors.”
(Netflix)
Another crew member, who has worked on House of Cards for its entire run, said Spacey routinely harassed and touched him.
“He would put his hands on me in weird ways,” he said.
“He would come in and massage my shoulders from behind or put his hands around me or touch my stomach sometimes in weird ways that in normal everyday conversation would not be appropriate.”
(Netflix)
This crew member said he did not “feel comfortable” asking Spacey to stop.
“That’s the worst part about this whole thing. I would love to be able to speak out about this kind of stuff and not fear.”
A former camera assistant said employees did not make the alleged incidents public because they were scared of losing their jobs.
“Who is going to believe crew members?” he said. “You’re going to get fired.”
(Netflix)
A former production assistant who worked on several seasons of the show said she also witnessed Spacey’s sexual misconduct on the set.
“It was very known that Kevin was inappropriate, and males I worked with complained to me about how they felt uncomfortable,” she said.
“Kevin does this thing which was play fights with them in order to touch them.”
She recalled seeing Spacey go up to “multiple people” to “say hello, greet them, shake their hand and pull their hand down to his crotch and touch their crotch.
(Netflix)
“I have friends say he reached up their shorts on set.”
Spacey did not respond to CNN’s request for comment about these allegations.
Netflix said that it “was just made aware of one incident, five years ago, that we were informed was resolved swiftly.”
“On Tuesday, in collaboration with MRC, we suspended production, knowing that Kevin Spacey wasn’t scheduled to work until Wednesday.
(Getty)
“Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set.”
The company added: “We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the production”.
MRC, the show’s production company, told CNN that they have set up “an anonymous complaint hotline, crisis counselors, and sexual harassment legal advisors for the crew.”
Spacey has repeatedly been accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour this week, since Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp accused him of making sexual advances on him when he was 14.
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 Baby Driver actor 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.”
In the wake of these allegations and Spacey’s response, Netflix announced that House of Cards would be ending after its sixth season.
And the streaming company announced the next day that it was suspending production on the show’s sixth season.
(Netflix)
The current slew of sexual misconduct allegations in Hollywood – and further afield, including the British Parliament – started with accusations against Harvey Weinstein, who has also sought “treatment.”
After Rapp’s story was made public, filmmaker Tony Montana accused Spacey of having sexually assaulted him in 2003, saying: “He put his hand on my crotch forcefully and grabbed my whole package.”
Tony Montana (YouTube/tony montana)
Another alleged victim, Daniel Beal, said that Spacey showed him his penis in public when he was 19, before giving him his £5,000 watch to buy his silence.
“He said: ‘It’s big, isn’t it?’ He leaned over and tried to pull my hand towards it,” Beal told The Sun.
Dan Beal (Facebook/dan beal)
He accused Spacey of “grooming”.
Another man, who did not reveal his name, told the BBC he was left traumatised after waking to find Spacey lying on him, in his underwear, with his arms wrapped around him.
The man, who was a teenager at the time, said Spacey’s behaviour during that weekend was “either very stupid or predatory – or maybe a little of both.”
He added: “It seems he was grooming me.
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Mexican actor Rob Cavazos has also alleged that Spacey approached him in “unpleasant encounters” which he said he would have termed “harassment” if he were a woman.
Cavazos was at London’s Old Vic Theatre at the same time as Spacey, who was the venue’s artistic director for a decade.
He said the American Beauty actor was commonly found at the theatre bar, “squeezing whoever caught his attention.”
Roberto Cavazos (Facebook/roberto cavazos)
Cavazos – who has been in Rush and and Doctor Who – said: “There are many of us who have a ‘Kevin Spacey story’.
“It seems that it only took a male under 30 to make Mr Spacey feel free to touch us.
Today, another alleged victim claimed that Spacey had a sexual ‘relationship’ with him when he was a child, before trying to rape him.
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Speaking to Vulture, the latest alleged victim – now a 48-year-old artist living in the US with his long-term partner – said Spacey approached him when he was 14.
After three or four sexual encounters and proclamations of love, Spacey invited him over and attempted to rape the child, he said.
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“I guess he must have come up behind me and yanked down my baggy jeans, and he goes to f*** me and I’m like, ‘No, I don’t want to.’
“And he pushes hard, and grabs me, and starts shoving up against my asshole, and it hurts like a motherf***er.
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“I again tell him no, and he tries again.
“I am strong enough, thank God, both somewhere in my brain and in my body, to get him off of me. I’m sturdy, thankfully.
Spacey in 2000 (Getty)
“I throw him off of me and I run crying down the stairs and out into the street and then suck it all up and go have dinner.”
“I always have said: ‘He tried to rape me.’
He added that the actor was “a paedophile and a sexual predator.”
(Getty)
The International TV Academy withdrew an honour it was due to give Spacey.
The American Beauty actor was due to be handed the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award on November 20, at a glamorous event in New York.
