Kevin Spacey has not been found guilty of sexual assault in New York
A civil court on Thursday fired actor Anthony Rapp, who accused Kevin Spacey of sexually touching him in 1986.
Kevin Spacey, leaving the courthouse, in New York, October 6, 2022.
AFP
A popular jury in a New York civil court on Thursday fired actor Anthony Rapp, who accused fallen Hollywood star Kevin Spacey of sexually touching him when he was a teenager during a night out in Manhattan 36 years ago.
The jury delivered its decision after a brief ruling, dismissing claims from Anthony Rapp, 50, who was seeking $ 40 million in compensation. Shortly after reading the deliberations, Kevin Spacey left the courthouse, rushing into the back of a black vehicle without making statements to reporters. Anthony Rapp reportedly walked out of the back of the Manhattan courthouse and his lawyers didn’t say a word.
“Kevin Spacey is pleased to live in a country where citizens have the right to be judged by impartial jurors who decide on evidence and not on rumors or social networks,” cheered his lawyer Jennifer Keller. She welcomed in an email to AFP a “quick and clear verdict” and that “justice has been done”.
#Me too
The case, unveiled at the end of October 2017, at the very beginning of the #MeToo phenomenon of free speech on sexual violence, was followed by other allegations of sexual assault against the actor, which led to him being sidelined in the entertainment world.
The one who played a politician ready to do anything to gain power in Washington on Netflix’s worldwide hit series “House of Cards,” isn’t done with legal trouble. The 63-year-old actor is still being prosecuted for sexual assaults on three men between March 2005 and April 2013, when he was director of a London theater, and for which he pleaded not guilty last July.
In New York, the 11-person popular jury – on Thursday 12 fell ill – responded negatively to the question of whether Anthony Rapp, who filed a complaint in 2020, had proven that “Kevin Spacey touched his private parts” in May. 1986, during a party he was throwing in his New York apartment.
Anthony Rapp, who stars in the series “Star Trek: Discovery”, was then 14, while Kevin Spacey was 26. At the time, both played on Broadway tables in New York, in two separate shows. . The two actors have been present throughout the trial, since it began on 6 October, and have kept their version of events.
“It is not true!”
Anthony Rapp assured that during the evening with Kevin Spacey, the actor had made him suffer a trauma by taking him in his arms and carrying him “as a groom carries his bride”, before putting him on the bed and lying briefly against him, completely. dress. According to a June ordinance that recorded the facts, “his hand” then “rubbed the garment covering (the) buttocks” of Anthony Rapp for a few seconds.
The actor revealed himself to the general public for his roles in “Seven” (1995) and “The Usual Suspects” (1996, Oscar for the best supporting role), later consecrated in 2000 by an Oscar as best actor (” American Beauty “) vigorously disputed the allegations. “It is not true!” he assured Tuesday, during his cross-examination led by Anthony Rapp’s attorney.
He said he met Anthony Rapp in May 1986, but with another comedian, John Barrowman, then 19, and flirted with the latter but not the former. Why then did he apologize in October 2017 – while saying he had no recollection of the facts – when the story came to light? Kevin Spacey explained that he did it on the recommendation of his agents.
At the time, he used the opportunity to declare himself gay, which led to even more criticism, with some accusing him of trying to divert attention. In court, Kevin Spacey explained that his homosexuality has always been a difficult subject for him, particularly due to his father’s rejection of him, whom he described as a “white supremacist” and a “neo-Nazi”.
AFP
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