Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp has alleged that Kevin Spacey made a sexual advance on him in 1986, when Rapp was 14-years-old and Spacey was 26, according to Buzzfeed.
Rapp first became acquainted with Spacey while performing in the play Precious Sons on Broadway, at the same time Spacey was enjoying his own major break in a revival of Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Rapp and Spacey hung out together at a post-show gathering, which then turned into an evening at the famed club Limelight. Spacey invited Rapp to a party at his Manhattan apartment a few days later—an offer Rapp gladly accepted. (Rapp said this was of little concern at the time to his mother, noting that “it was a different era.”)
Rapp arrived at the party, but as the only non-adult in attendance, he quickly became bored. He wandered into a bedroom and sat on the bed, watching TV until after midnight. Eventually, Rapp said he turned to see Spacey standing in the doorway, and realized they were alone. From Buzzfeed:
“My memory was that I thought, Oh, everybody’s gone. Well, yeah, I should probably go home,” Rapp said. Spacey, he recalled, “sort of stood in the doorway, kind of swaying. My impression when he came in the room was that he was drunk.” Rapp doesn’t remember Spacey saying anything to him. Instead, Rapp said, “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 was trying to seduce me,” Rapp said. “I don’t know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.
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Rapp said Spacey remained pressed on top of him until he was able to wiggle away a short time later. He left to go home, with Spacey allegedly asking whether he was sure he wanted to leave. Rapp said yes.
After the incident, Rapp said he was sure he’d never have to see Spacey again, though it wasn’t long until the actor started to collect bigger and bigger roles and with them, awards and accolades. As Spacey’s fame blossomed, Rapp’s anger about what happened fomented as well, and he shared his story with several friends who corroborated the account to Buzzfeed.
His decision to come forward publicly now comes on the heels of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and the numerous others who have shared their stories about sexual malfeasance by Hollywood elites. Rapp has not spoken to Spacey since the alleged incident, but seeing him on screen causes Rapp’s stomach to churn, he said.
“I still to this day can’t wrap my head around so many aspects of it. It’s just deeply confusing to me,” he told the outlet:
“And not to simply air a grievance,” he said, “but to try to shine another light on the decades of behavior that have been allowed to continue because many people, including myself, being silent. … I’m feeling really awake to the moment that we’re living in, and I’m hopeful that this can make a difference.”