It was one of the most talked about allegations of sexual harassment, which from the first days of life ignited The #MeToo Movement. It also highlighted the power of cancellation culture, as the applicant would soon see his contracts canceled and be asked to pay compensation to major production companies, in addition to a few more skeletons that seemed to pop out of his closet. However, two days ago, a federal jury in Manhattan, after some deliberation, decided that this complaint was unfounded: contrary to what he claimed, the American actor Anthony Rappdid not convince the court that in 1986, at the age of 14, he was sexually abused by his then budding colleague. Kevin Spacey.

Rapp’s complaint was made public in October 2017 on Buzzfeed. The actor accused Kevin Spacey of raping him three decades ago during a party: he approached him in the room, picked him up, laid him on the bed and climbed on top, pressing him. The party was held at the then 26-year-old Spacey’s New York apartment, and the alleged incident took place after most of the guests had already left. The two men had already gotten to know each other after appearing in major theater productions that season: the teenage Rapp in Precious Sons, the grown-up Spacey in Day’s Journey into Night.

The recent lawsuit, which found the complaint unfounded, was largely judged by some of Rapp’s inconsistencies, which Spacey’s lawyers seem to have taken notice of: that is, while the complainant was talking about a private room in the house during the period, he had a large one-room studio . In addition, Spacey himself admitted that one night after his performance, he invited Rapp and his friend, then 19-year-old John Barrowman, to his apartment, with whom he did flirt, at least to some extent. as he felt that Rapp was too young to have witnessed further developments – the above was confirmed by Barrowman in court. One of Spacey’s lawyers, Jennifer Keller, went even further, assessing that Rapp did all this because of envy of Spacey’s career at the Oscars: “He gets more attention because of the trial than in his entire career,” commented he. And the jury, after deliberating for only eighty minutes, decided that of Rapp’s two statements, this was the least corroborating.

Hearing the decision, the 50-year-old Star Trek: Discovery actor was speechless. Spacey lowered his head in relief, stood up and hugged his partner with tears in his eyes. It’s not like he screwed up: the studio for the House of Cards series he was in when Rapp sued him received $31 million in lost profits from another star, according to another court ruling. He faces three other violence cases in London courts from his time as Artistic Director of the Old Vic. In the meantime, as part of the lawsuit, he retracted an earlier apology to Rapp, declared his sexual orientation and regretted it as he was accused of the complaint disorienting him, while he blamed his neo-Nazi father for his secrecy in business. the whole thing. However, according to Jennifer Keller, the follow-up is important: “Kevin Spacey,” she said out of court, “will be found not guilty of all charges against him.”