The #MeToo movement began years ago, starting with allegations made against Harvey Weinstein and extending to other powerful folks in the industry like Kevin Spacey. The stories about the latter actor started with actor Anthony Rapp, who accused the Oscar winning actor of sexual midsconduct when he was just 14 years old. Rapp recently took the stand in the Spacey case, and his testimony led to objections and a bench conference with the judge. And on top of that, the trial is now dealing with a Covid outbreak.
Anthony Rapp took the stand yesterday in his $40 million sexual misconduct case against Kevin Spacey. The House of Cards actor’s attorney Jennifer Keller cross-examined him for an hour, seemingly attempting to poke holes in his story about their encounter, as well as his motivations. This came just a day before Deadline revealed multiple members of Spacey’s team tested positive for Covid, seemingly putting the proceedings in jeopardy. All 12 jurors and those in the courtroom will have to get two rounds of testing on Sunday and Tuesday. Judge Kaplan said about the situation:
First focus is on the jury and on trying to save the trial if we can.
We’ll have to see how this shakes out, but it definitely puts the trial into a place of uncertainty. As for the objections, the story goes like this. Per Deadline, when Rapp was asked yesterday by his own lawyer if he came out about the accusations to help his star-power in the industry, he responded with:
I came forward because I knew I was not the only one Kevin Spacey had made advances to.
This comment reportedly created quite a stir in the courtroom yesterday. Kevin Spacey’s lawyers objected to it, which was sustained by judge Lewis A. Kaplan and ordered to be stricken from both the official record and those on the jury. Clearly Anthony Rapp’s mention of other alleged victims was a serious matter.
Not only did this objection successfully occur, but Anthony Rapp’s comments above also resulted in a bench conference between both actors’ lawyers and the judge. After a few minutes of chatter about that comment and the objection, Lewis A. Kaplan stating that the “ruling stands.”
Following this bench chatter, Anthony Rapp’s lawyer simply asked the RENT icon a simple question: if he made up anything about his encounter with Kevin Spacey back in 1986. Rapp responded by saying:
I have not. It is something that happened to me that was not OK.
But given the Covid-19 outbreak that’s currently happening, it seems like the explosive drama from Anthony Rapp’s testimony might be the least of the issues circulating around the Kevin Spacey case. It remains to be seen how the testing goes down, and if the trial is able to continue as planned. This civil case between the two actors is separate from the upcoming legal battle in the U.K., where Spacey was recently charged with four counts of sexual assault. For his part, he pleaded not guilty and appeared in the courts across the pond.
Kevin Spacey has been largely out of the spotlight since over 10 accusers including Anthony Rapp claimed sexual misconduct. As for Rapp, he’s been keeping busy on Star Trek: Discovery. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release list to plan your next trip to the movies.