Attorneys for Kevin Spacey claim that Anthony Rapp manufactured sexual misconduct allegations against the Oscar-winning actor because he was jealous of his success and angry about his own stalled career.
“He blames Mr. Spacey for everything that hasn’t gone well in his life,” Jennifer L. Keller, an attorney for Spacey said Thursday during opening arguments in the actor’s civil trial.
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Rapp “peaked around the year 2000 and he grew bitter about not getting parts as an openly gay man,” Keller added.
Spacey was on hand in Manhattan federal court as his lawyers attempted to fight back against Rapp’s $40 million civil lawsuit. Rapp is claiming that Spacey made unwanted sexual advances at him in 1986 when Spacey was 26 and Rapp was 14 years old. Rapp’s legal team made a point of reminding the jury that the actor was only a teenager at the time of the alleged assault, sharing a photograph of him in which he had a comb over haircut, wore glasses and appeared very boyish. They reminded the jurors not to think of Rapp as the 50-year-old actor who was watching the proceedings, but as the boy he once was.
“This was something that never should have happened,” Peter Saghir, an attorney for Rapp, said during his own opening arguments. “Kevin Spacey made a sexual advance on Anthony when he was 14 to gratify his sexual desires,” he added at another point.
Spacey’s legal team plans to bring medical experts who will testify about trauma and memory lapses. Based on their opening statements, they appear ready to argue that Rapp has misremembered or embellished key details.
In a 2017 article in BuzzFeed, Rapp claimed that he attended a party at the actor’s New York City apartment. At that gathering, he went into Spacey’s bedroom and at one point realized he was the last person at the party. He claims that Spacey blocked the doorway, preventing him from leaving the room, and eventually picked him up and put him on his bed. He then allegedly climbed on top of Rapp. However, Keller said that Spacey’s apartment was a one-room studio and showed a floor plan on a screen that she said made Rapp’s description of events improbable.
“The story only works if you invent a wall and a door,” she said.
But Rapp’s team painted a harrowing portrait of the evening, claiming that the teenager was “frozen” as he “felt the weight of Spacey” on top of him. At some point, they said, Rapp was able to escape to a bathroom, which they described as “a safe place, a place to retreat.” Rapp eventually managed to leave the actor’s apartment, deeply shaken by the incident.
“This was no accident,” said Saghir. “This was no horseplay.”
Rapp’s team announced they were going to have another alleged victim of Spacey testify about a 1981 incident involving the actor. Saghir said the person, who he did not identify by name, was not a friend or acquaintance of Rapp.
Spacey’s side revealed that it plans to question whether the alleged incident was actually traumatic. They argue that if Rapp was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he would have practiced “avoidance.” However, they say they have proof he watched the actor’s movies, including such films as “L.A. Confidential.”
Spacey won Oscars for his work in “American Beauty” and “The Usual Suspects.” He was fired from the Netflix series “House of Cards” in the wake of multiple sexual abuse allegations. Rapp starred on Broadway in the original cast of “Rent” and appears on “Star Trek: Discovery.”
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