Kevin Spacey’s sexual abuse trial started in New York on Thursday and his lawyer’s opening statement left many horrified. Spacey’s attorney, Jennifer Keller, alleged that Spacey is a victim of the MeToo movement and that his accuser, Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp, is ‘simmering with resentment’ over Spacey's success.
Rapp first made public allegations of sexual assault against Spacey in October 2017, saying the actor made advances towards him at a party in 1986 when he was 14. At the time of the claims, Spacey issued ‘the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour… This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life.'
But yesterday Spacey’s lawyer claimed: ‘One of the cardinal rules of the so-called MeToo movement (is) that you have to believe the victim. You’ll see that Mr Spacey said “this didn’t happen, I don’t remember it…They told him to apologise. It was cleverly set up by Mr Rapp.’
‘[Rapp] peaked in 2000 and grew bitter,’ Keller continued in the personal attack. ‘So, he became an out gay actor. I don’t know if he would have been a leading man anyway…[The allegations Rapp made in 2017] were right after the Harvey Weinstein allegations. All sorts of people are worried about being cancelled.’
After Rapp spoke out, numerous other accusations about Spacey (which he denies) followed. One from a teenager he allegedly groped in Massachusetts in 2016 (civil action was dropped), and another from a masseuse in Malibu the same year who died before action reached court.
But the MeToo movement wasn’t a bandwagon to jump on. It was an empowering opportunity for victims who’d been silenced by the power of Hollywood’s patriarchal structure to speak up about instances of historic abuse—and Anthony Rapp was one of the brave people among them.
Keller claimed that Rapp had come forward ‘for attention, for sympathy and to raise his own profile’ in the entertainment industry. ‘He never became the international star Kevin Spacey did,’ she said. ‘He has been simmering with resentment. It’s not easy to defend this, after 30 years.’
But sexual assault claims do not raise the profile of survivors. If anything, when victims come forwards, they risk losing the career they’ve worked hard to build altogether. So for Spacey’s lawyers to use this defence is both ludicrous and damaging.
Take Harvey Weinstein's victims. ‘From 1992, I didn’t work again until 1995,’ Annabella Sciorra told the New Yorker of her experience of speaking out against Weinstein. ‘I just kept getting this pushback of “We heard you were difficult; we heard this or that.” I think that was the Harvey machine.’
Conversely, actors, directors and producers who are accused of assaulting others have historically continued to work with minimal disruption. Weinstein thrived in Hollywood for 27 years after he first made a settlement with an accuser for ‘sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact’. Spacey returned to acting last year to play a detective investigating a false claim of paedophilia.
Rapp’s trial against Spacey is set to last for two weeks at the Manhattan federal court. He is seeking compensation for mental and emotional suffering, medical expenses and loss of work that could lead to $40 million in damages for Spacey, the BBC has reported.
According to NBC, while Spacey laughed and ‘appeared relaxed’ on the first day in the courtroom, Rapp was ‘visibly emotional’ and ‘could be seen crying and dabbing his eyes with a crumbled tissue.’ He is just one of fifteen men to accuse Spacey of sexual misconduct.