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| Kevin Spacey (L) Anthony Rapp (R) |
The two actors were both appearing on Broadway at the time, Spacey in Long Day's Journey Into Night and Rapp in Precious Sons.
Spacey, 26 years old at the time, had met Rapp at several post-show celebrations as the awards season had begun and invited Rapp to a party at his home.
Rapp went to the party alone, but upon realizing no other people his age were in attendance, found himself alone watching TV in a bedroom.
Buzzfeed has the following account from Rapp:
At some point, Rapp said he turned to see Spacey standing at the bedroom door. And that's when he first realized that everyone else had left the party. They were alone.
“My memory was that I thought, Oh, everybody's gone. Well, yeah, I should probably go home,” Rapp said. Spacey, he recalled, “sort of stood in the doorway, kind of swaying. My impression when he came in the room was that he was drunk.” Rapp doesn't remember Spacey saying anything to him. Instead, Rapp said, “He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. But I don't, like, squirm away initially, because I'm like, 'What's going on?' And then he lays down on top of me.”
“He was trying to seduce me,” Rapp said. “I don't know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”
Rapp recalled this all happening — Spacey appearing at the door, coming into the room, picking him up, and putting him on the bed — in one clumsy action, with Spacey landing at a slight angle on top of him. He said Spacey “was, like, pressing into me,” and that he remembers Spacey “tightening his arms.” But while he can't recall exactly how long Spacey remained on top of him, Rapp said he was able to “squirm” away after a short period.
“It was a frozen moment,” Rapp said of the entire encounter, with a deep, exasperated sigh. “In terms of fight or flight or freeze, I tend to freeze.”
After pushing Spacey off him, Rapp remembered he was able to step into the bathroom and close the door. "I was like, 'What is happening?'” he said. “I saw on the counter next to the sink a picture of him having his arm around a man. So I think on some level I was like, Oh. He's gay. I guess. Then I opened the door, and I was like, 'OK, I'm going to go home now.' He followed me to the front door of the apartment, and as I opened the door to leave, he was leaning on the front door[frame]. And he was like, 'Are you sure you wanna go?' I said, 'Yes, good night,' and then I did leave."
As he walked home, “My head was spinning,” Rapp said. “I have a memory of turning around and [thinking], What was that? What am I supposed to do with it? What does it mean?”
Rapp says in light of the recent sexual harassment allegations about producer Harvey Weinstein, he felt emboldened to speak up about his experience years ago.
Some hours later, Spacey responded to the allegation via Twitter wherein he said he didn't recall the encounter but apologized to Rapp. In the same message, Spacey, who has long danced around gay rumors, picked this as the time to come out.
"But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior," Spacey wrote.
"This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life. I know that there are other stories out there about me and that some have been fueled by the fact that I have been so protective of my privacy," he continued. He also acknowledged for the first time publicly that "I now choose to live as a gay man."
— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017
The Twitterverse found it beyond contempt that Spacey would attempt to conflate the story by coming out:
This isn't a coming out story about Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp & those who speak out about unwanted sexual advances— Sarah Kate Ellis (@sarahkateellis) October 30, 2017
Nope to Kevin Spacey's statement. Nope. There's no amount of drunk or closeted that excuses or explains away assaulting a 14-year-old child.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) October 30, 2017
Coming out as a gay man is not the same thing as coming out as someone who preyed on a 14-year-old. Conflating those things is disgusting— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) October 30, 2017
This exposes the gay community to a million tired old criticisms and conspiracies.— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) October 30, 2017
The distance we've had to walk to get away from the notion that we're all pedophiles is significant.— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) October 30, 2017
How dare you implicate us all in this— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) October 30, 2017
Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out.— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 30, 2017
Hi Kevin Spacey. Don't use your sexuality or blame alcohol to defend or excuse your actions. It's beyond shameful.— Vinay A. Ramesh (@vinaytion) October 30, 2017
Kevin Spacey really tried to throw the entire LGBT community under a bus and call it solidarity in an effort to mask his personal failings.— deray mckesson (@deray) October 30, 2017
Imagine coming out of the closet when you've been accused of pedophilia. Imagine doing that to the LGBT community.— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) October 30, 2017
Hey @KevinSpacey most of us have been extremely drunk in our lives & still not tried to have sex with a 14 yr old. It’s disgusting. Period.— Richard Marx (@richardmarx) October 30, 2017
Anthony Rapp: "Kevin Spacey tried to rape me."— Travon Free (@Travon) October 30, 2017
Media: "Kevin how do you respond?"
Spacey: "uuh...uuhh... Hey everyone I'm gay!" pic.twitter.com/6LAEfsyRtF
Dear Kevin Spacey. Pedophilia is not spelled “I’m a gay man now” just saying— A MILLENNIAL (@LadyThriller69) October 30, 2017
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