Kevin Spacey Addresses Anthony Rapp Sexual Advance Accusations, Comes Out as Gay
Stage and screen star Kevin Spacey came out as gay just hours after Rent icon Anthony Rapp accused the Tony- and Oscar-winning actor of making a sexual advance towards him when Rapp was 14, Spacey was 26 and both were appearing on Broadway.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Rapp recounted an incident at a 1986 party at Spacey’s apartment in which the older actor allegedly climbed on top of underage Rapp, making a sexual advance. Rapp was appearing in Precious Sons opposite Ed Harris and Judith Ivey at the time, while Spacey was enjoying a career break in a Jack Lemmon-led revival of Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
On Twitter, Spacey posted, “I’m beyond horrified to hear [Rapp’s] story. I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.”
“This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life,” he continued. “As those closest to me know, in my life I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior.”
When hosting the 2017 Tony Awards in June, Spacey made several jokes about his sexuality, including replacing the lyrics “I’ve come back at last” in Sunset Boulevard’s “As If We Never Said Goodbye” with “I’m coming out…” before stopping, “No, wait, no…”
Rapp, who has been openly gay since becoming a Broadway star in the original cast of Rent and is currently starring in TV’s Star Trek: Discovery, says he shared his memories of the incident and its aftermath to “try to shine another light on the decades of behavior that have been allowed to continue because of many people, including myself, being silent.” He added he was “hopeful that this can make a difference.”
— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017