In a lawsuit, the actor Anthony Rapp said Mr. Spacey made a sexual advance when Mr. Rapp was 14. Mr. Spacey is accused of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Five years ago, as the #MeToo movement saw a growing number of high-profile men face accusations of sexual misconduct, a claim against Kevin Spacey emerged while he was starring in the Netflix show “House of Cards.”
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Anthony Rapp, best known for his role in the musical “Rent,” alleged that in 1986, when he was 14, Mr. Spacey picked him up, placed him on a bed and laid down on top of him, making a “sexual advance.”
Mr. Rapp told the publication that the encounter occurred when the actors were both in Broadway shows and Mr. Spacey, then 26, invited him to a gathering at his Manhattan apartment. Mr. Rapp told BuzzFeed he was able to “squirm” away and leave.
Mr. Spacey has denied the allegation.
In 2020, Mr. Rapp sued Mr. Spacey, accusing him of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A judge dismissed the assault claim, but on Thursday, lawyers were set to begin opening arguments about the other claims before a 12-person jury in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
Mr. Spacey, who faces criminal sexual assault charges in Britain in a separate case, has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen men. This is the first time one of those claims has reached a trial.
After Mr. Rapp’s public accusation, TV and film producers quickly dropped Mr. Spacey from projects. His character was written out of “House of Cards” and he was ultimately ordered to pay the studio $31 million for breach of contract. Mr. Rapp currently stars in the TV show “Star Trek: Discovery.”
Mr. Spacey, now 63, initially released a statement saying he did not recall the encounter that Mr. Rapp, now 50, had described, saying, “But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” In court papers submitted following the lawsuit, Mr. Spacey has vehemently denied that the incident ever occurred.
What is Mr. Rapp’s side expected to tell the jury?
Mr. Rapp was a child actor in the Broadway play “Precious Sons” in 1986, when he says Mr. Spacey approached him during a gathering at his apartment, after others had left.
Mr. Rapp said in a deposition that he had been sitting on a bed watching television when Mr. Spacey picked Mr. Rapp up in his arms “like a groom picks up a bride over the threshold.” Mr. Spacey then laid down on top of him and pressed into him with the “full weight of his body,” Mr. Rapp said in the deposition.
“I recall being frozen and shocked and upset and scared,” Mr. Rapp said.
When he left Mr. Spacey’s apartment, Mr. Rapp said in the deposition, the older actor leaned into the doorway and said, “Are you sure you want to go?”
Mr. Rapp’s lawyers have argued that this account constitutes battery, and that Mr. Rapp suffered severe emotional distress, including depression and anxiety. They are expected to present evidence with the intent of showing that Mr. Rapp had told others about an encounter with Mr. Spacey.
The legal definition of battery is “the unjustified touching of another person, without that person’s consent, with the intent to cause a bodily contact that a reasonably prudent person would find offensive.”
How is Mr. Spacey’s side expected to defend the actor?
Lawyers for Mr. Spacey have said in court papers that he met Mr. Rapp on a few occasions but that those interactions were “peripheral and limited.” Mr. Spacey “flatly denies that any of what Plaintiff described took place,” his lawyers said in court papers.
In court proceedings, the lawyers have sought to impeach witnesses who say Mr. Rapp told them about the encounter, and have argued that other events from Mr. Rapp’s life may have caused the emotional distress he cites.
Mr. Spacey’s lawyers have accused Mr. Rapp of making the allegations for the benefit of his own career and to attract public attention.
They have also asserted that the allegations do not “warrant the labels” that Mr. Rapp and the news media have attached to them, writing in court papers that “by plaintiff’s own admission, there was no groping, no kissing, no undressing, no reaching under clothes, and no sexualized statements or innuendo.”
Who is expected to testify?
Mr. Rapp’s lawyers are expected to assert that Mr. Rapp was not the only victim of sexual misconduct by Mr. Spacey, and Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has agreed to allow another accuser to testify.
That accuser, Andy Holtzman, says that in 1981, Mr. Spacey groped his genitals and rubbed his groin on Mr. Holtzman. In a deposition, Mr. Spacey denied Mr. Holtzman’s allegations, saying he did not recall any dealings with him.
Mr. Spacey’s lawyers have indicated that they may call witnesses who have said Mr. Rapp told them about the allegations and Adam Vary, the BuzzFeed journalist who wrote the initial article.
Why is Mr. Rapp able to bring this claim now?
Because Mr. Rapp’s claims extend beyond the statute of limitations, he is relying on a law called the Child Victims Act, which New York State passed in 2019. It included a “look-back window” — a limited period of time in which people who say they were sexually abused as children could sue.
The plaintiff and the defense dispute whether the law applies in this case.
Mr. Spacey’s lawyers assert that based on the legislation, a plaintiff can only revive claims if they constitute a “sexual offense” that violates penal law, and they argue that Mr. Rapp’s allegations do not meet that threshold.
Mr. Rapp’s lawyers have said that sexual contact, under the law, can include touching over the clothing or forcefully holding the victim, as their client alleges.
What has become of other legal claims against Mr. Spacey?
Mr. Rapp originally sued with another plaintiff, who was anonymous, who alleged that Mr. Spacey sexually assaulted him when he was a teenager, after he met the older actor as an acting coach in the 1980s. Judge Kaplan ruled that the plaintiff would have to identify himself publicly if he wanted to continue on to trial, which he declined to do.
In another case, in 2019, prosecutors in Massachusetts dropped a sexual assault charge after the accuser was warned he could be charged with a felony if he had deleted phone evidence. The man, who had accused Mr. Spacey of fondling him at a Nantucket restaurant when he was 18, refused to continue his testimony.
Later that year, a separate lawsuit in California that had accused Mr. Spacey of sexually assaulting a massage therapist was dropped after the plaintiff died.
In Britain, Mr. Spacey is facing four charges of sexual assault, as well as one of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. He pleaded not guilty, and a trial is expected to start next summer.
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