They set up a confidential reporting process for complaints about Spacey. Theater officials told The Guardian newspaper at the time that they had never before received sexual misconduct complaints against Spacey. The same day, actor Roberto Cavazos claims in a post on his Facebook account that he had a "couple of unpleasant encounters" with Spacey when the two were both performing at the Old Vic, including allegedly being squeezed by Spacey in the Old Vic bar.
He also apologized for "what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."īut with the second half of his statement, Spacey sparks a fresh controversy when he comes out of the closet as a gay man in response to Rapp's accusation, prompting a torrent of accusations from the LGBTQ community for conflating alleged pedophilia with homosexuality. 30, 2017: Spacey posts a statement on Twitter the next day saying he is "beyond horrified" by the story but did not remember the alleged incident.
He has said he contacted the website's reporter after being inspired by the Weinstein revelations.Īnthony Rapp, cast member in "Star Trek: Discovery," poses at the premiere of the new television series in Los Angeles, Sept. 29, 2017: "Star Trek: Discovery" actor Anthony Rapp alleges in an interview with Buzzfeed News that in 1986, when he was 14, a then-26-year-old Spacey climbed on top of him in a bed after a party and made a sexual advance. 10, 2017: Ronan Farrow's initial investigation into Weinstein, published in The New Yorker, adds 13 women's on-the-record accounts of allegedly being sexually abused by Weinstein. Weinstein has denied ever sexually assaulting anyone. Others said their careers were sidelined after rebuffing Weinstein's alleged sexual advances. The investigation documented at least eight settlements Weinstein reached with women he had allegedly sexually assaulted and included accounts of high-profile actresses like Ashley Judd who said they were victimized by Weinstein.
5, 2017: The New York Times publishes a bombshell investigation alleging that Los Angeles movie mogul Harvey Weinstein had been sexually assaulting women in the film industry and paying them off to buy their silence for decades. Within three years, that figure had more than doubled, and has more than doubled again since 2015, according to a public summary of quarterly reports.įor five seasons, Spacey - and his exquisitely evil character Frank Underwood - were the toast of Washington, D.C, being playfully warned along with actress Robin Wright - who played first lady Claire Underwood - by the real president of the United States "no spoilers."īut in the fall of 2017, Spacey's career came crashing down with devastating swiftness and near Shakespearean consequences. Netflix reported total subscribers at just under 31 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, just before the show debuted. Then came "House of Cards," a cultural blockbuster that made Netflix the first streaming service ever nominated for - and ultimately awarded - Prime-time Emmys, Golden Globes and Academy Awards and ushered in a revolution in high-quality, streaming original series. In 2004, Spacey was named to one of the most prestigious posts in the London theater world - artistic director of the Old Vic, the iconic non-profit theatrical institution and performance space - a position he held for 11 years.
His 1999 depiction in "American Beauty" of a suburban ad executive infatuated with his teen daughter's best friend - played by actress Mena Suvari - won him the Oscar for Best Actor.
Widely hailed as one of the finest actors of his generation, Spacey won a Tony Award for his 1991 role in Neil Simon's "Lost in Yonkers," and a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for a sublime performance in 1995's "The Usual Suspects."