Tearful Spacey says he was ‘shocked’ and ‘frightened’ by claims he made unwanted sexual advance on young actor
A tearful Kevin Spacey has told a court that he was “shocked”, “frightened” and “confused” by accusations that he made an unwanted sexual advance on a teenager in the 1980s.
Anthony Rapp says he was 14 when an intoxicated Spacey, then 26, climbed on top of him at a party in his Manhattan apartment in 1986.
Both were acting in Broadway plays at the time – Rapp in Precious Sons, and Spacey co-starring in A Long Day’s Journey Into The Night.
Anthony Rapp. Pic: NDZ/STAR MAX/IP
Rapp, now 50, said he squirmed out from underneath Spacey in the fully clothed encounter before running from the apartment, only to have the actor follow him and ask if he was sure he wanted to leave.
Spacey told a civil trial in Manhattan on Monday that he was “shocked” by the allegations, which were made public in a 2017 news report.
He said that, at the time, the #MeToo movement was gaining momentum and “the industry was very nervous”.
“There was a lot of fear in the air about who was going to be next,” he said.
“I was shocked. I was frightened and I was confused.
“I knew I had never been alone with Anthony Rapp.”
Spacey ‘regrets entire statement’
Spacey, 63, insisted he never had “any sexual interest in Anthony Rapp or any child – that I knew”.
Rapp, who was in the original cast of the musical Rent, filed his lawsuit in 2020, seeking compensatory and punitive damages up to $40m (about £35.9m).
After the allegations Spacey was edited out of the film All The Money In The World and replaced by Christopher Plummer as J Paul Getty. He was also sacked from the political drama series House Of Cards.
In court on Monday, he dabbed his eyes as he described being pressured into making a statement saying he did not remember anything happening with Rapp, but would be sorry “if” the allegations were somehow true.
He said he had since come to “regret my entire statement”, adding that his managers had said “it was the best way to contain a crisis that was going to get worse” and to avoid being accused of “victim shaming”.
‘My father was a white supremacist’
His account of the night was that he had met Rapp and another aspiring actor, John Barrowman, who was 19 at the time, backstage after a performance.
He had taken them to dinner, a nightclub and then to his apartment, where he had flirted with Barrowman but not with Rapp before the visitors left, he said.
Earlier, Spacey had told the court that he grew up in “a very complicated family dynamic”, describing his father as a “white supremacist and neo-Nazi”.
“It meant that my siblings and I were forced to listen to hours and hours of my father lecturing us about his beliefs,” he said.
“Everything about what was happening in that house was something I had to keep to myself.
“We never, ever, talked about it.
“I have never talked about these things publicly ever.”
As Spacey became interested in theatre, he said he endured the screams of his father, who “used to yell at me at the idea that I might be gay”.
The trial, which is in its third week, continues.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has been linked to a second group chat about sensitive military operations, which he reportedly shared with his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
The messages sent via the Signal messaging app are again understood to have contained details of an attack on Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in March.
The second chat group, initially reported by The New York Times, included about a dozen people. It revealed details of the schedule of the airstrikes, according to the Reuters news agency.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News there were 13 people in the second chat group, and Mr Hegseth divulged the information despite an aide warning him about using an unsecure communications system.
Mr Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer, has attended sensitive meetings with foreign military counterparts, while his brother was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser.
Military details from the first chat group were revealed by a journalist from The Atlantic magazine who was accidentally added to the Signal app by national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Mr Hegseth then shared sensitive information with cabinet officials about last month’s airstrike on targets in Yemen, which was later leaked.
Read more from Sky News:
What is Signal?
Who is Pete Hegseth?
Mike Waltz (left) and Pete Hegseth (right) have used Signal to discuss sensitive government matters. Pic: AP
‘A non-story,’ says White House
But the White House has consistently defended Mr Hegseth.
Donald Trump dismissed the original leak as “something that can happen”.
Responding to the latest chat group, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said: “No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same non-story, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared.
“Recently-fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the President’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable.”
The “leakers” referred to in the White House statement are four senior officials who were ousted from the Pentagon last week as part of an internal leak investigation.
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Leaked war plans: ‘Fairly serious’
‘Hegseth put lives at risk’
The New York Times reported that the second chat – named “Defence | Team Huddle” – was created on Mr Hegseth’s private phone.
It detailed the same warplane launch times as the first chat.
Several former and current officials have said sharing those operational details before a strike would have certainly been classified, and their release could have put pilots in danger.
Democratic politicians have repeatedly called for Mr Hegseth to step down.
“We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk,” Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a post on X.
“But [Donald] Trump is still too weak to fire him. Pete Hegseth must be fired.”
The latest claims about Mr Hegseth emerged as Yemen’s Houthi rebels reported another wave of US airstrikes on Sunday, including on the capital Sanaa.
The Houthis said at least 12 people had been killed, with 30 more injured.
The US says its bombing campaign is in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes.
DHL Express is suspending some shipments to the US as Donald Trump’s new tariff regime takes effect.
From 21 April, shipments worth more than $800 (£603) to US consumers from “any origin” will be temporarily suspended.
New rules that came into effect at the start of April made such shipments subject to increased customs checks.
“This change has caused a surge in formal customs clearances, which we are handling around the clock,” said the parcel delivery service.
Shipments going from business to business worth more than $800 aren’t affected by the suspension, but DHL warned they may also face delays.
Shipments under $800 to either businesses or consumers are not impacted, but one British cycle manufacturer suggested its US customers may need to split orders over $800 into “smaller shipments” to avoid the red tape.
Read more:
The art of doing a deal with Trump
Is there method to Trump’s madness?
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Trump: Tariffs are making US ‘rich’
Trump targeting ‘deceptive’ practices
From May, shipments from China and Hong Kong that are worth less than $800 “will be subject to all applicable duties”, according to the White House.
“President Trump is targeting deceptive shipping practices by Chinese-based shippers, many of whom hide illicit substances, including synthetic opioids, in low-value packages,” it said in a statement.
Until now, deliveries worth less than $800 didn’t incur any duties, which allowed low-cost companies Chinese like Shein and Temu to make inroads in the US.
Both have warned their prices will now rise because of the rule changes, starting on 25 April.
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