Attorneys for Kevin Spacey claim that Anthony Rapp manufactured sexualmisconduct allegations against the Oscar-winning actor because he was jealousof 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 openingarguments in the actor’s civil trial.
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Rapp “peaked around the year 2000 and he grew bitter about not getting partsas an openly gay man,” Keller added.
Spacey was on hand in Manhattan federal court as his lawyers attempted tofight back against Rapp’s $40 million civil lawsuit. Rapp is claiming thatSpacey made unwanted sexual advances at him in 1986 when Spacey was 26 andRapp was 14 years old. Rapp’s legal team made a point of reminding the jurythat the actor was only a teenager at the time of the alleged assault, sharinga photograph of him in which he had a comb over haircut, wore glasses andappeared very boyish. They reminded the jurors not to think of Rapp as the50-year-old actor who was watching the proceedings, but as the boy he oncewas.
“This was something that never should have happened,” Peter Saghir, anattorney for Rapp, said during his own opening arguments. “Kevin Spacey made asexual advance on Anthony when he was 14 to gratify his sexual desires,” headded at another point.
Spacey’s legal team plans to bring medical experts who will testify abouttrauma and memory lapses. Based on their opening statements, they appear readyto argue that Rapp has misremembered or embellished key details.
In a 2017 article in BuzzFeed, Rapp claimed that he attended a party at theactor’s New York City apartment. At that gathering, he went into Spacey’sbedroom and at one point realized he was the last person at the party. Heclaims 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 climbedon top of Rapp. However, Keller said that Spacey’s apartment was a one-roomstudio and showed a floor plan on a screen that she said made Rapp’sdescription of events improbable.
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“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 theteenager was “frozen” as he “felt the weight of Spacey” on top of him. At somepoint, they said, Rapp was able to escape to a bathroom, which they describedas “a safe place, a place to retreat.” Rapp eventually managed to leave theactor’s apartment, deeply shaken by the incident.
“This was no accident,” said Saghir. “This was no horse play.”
Rapp’s team announced they were going to have another alleged victim of Spaceytestify about a 1981 incident involving the actor. Saghir said the person, whohe 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 incidentwas actually traumatic. They argue that if Rapp was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he would have practiced “avoidance.” However, theysay they have proof he watched the actor’s movies, including such films as “LAConfidential.”
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 multiplesexual abuse allegations. Rapp starred on Broadway in the original cast of“Rent” and appears on “Star Trek: Discovery.”
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