Kevin Spacey did not sexually assault teenage boy, jury finds
20 October 2022, 22:01 | Updated: 30 June 2023, 11:26
Kevin Spacey did not molest a 14-year-old boy, a New York jury has found.
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Anthony Rapp brought the case against Mr Spacey for the alleged incident, which he said took place in 1986, when he was a teenager, and Mr Spacey was in his late 20s.
Mr Rapp had been seeking $50 million in damages - the equivalent of around £35 million - for the incident, which he said took place at a party.
Oscar-winner Mr Spacey denied the allegations. Both the American Beauty star and Mr Rapp gave evidence over the three-day hearing.
Mr Spacey's lawyer claimed that Mr Rapp could have taken his allegations from a scene from “Precious Sons,” a Broadway play that Mr Rapp was performing in at the time of the alleged incident, according to CNN.
She said: “We’re here because Mr. Rapp has falsely alleged abuse that never occurred at a party that was never held in a room that did not exist."
Two of the three charges - intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual assault - had already been dismissed by Judge Lewis A Kaplan's. The latter following a ruling the statute of limitations had expired - meaning the civil case had been brought too late.
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Mr Spacey also faces a trial in London in 2023 for charges of sexual assault that are alleged to have taken place when he was artistic director of the Old Vic theatre. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
In August, a judge ordered Spacey to pay $31m to the producers of House of Cards for costs incurred as a result of firing him from the hit political drama.
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Mr Spacey told the New York court this week how his ‘white supremacist and neo-Nazi’ father’s verbal abuse deterred him from coming out as gay.
Describing his “very complicated family dynamic”, the former House of Cards actor, 63, recounted how he had been "forced” to listen to “hours and hours and hours" of "hatred" from his father.
He also recalled how his father "used to yell at me at the idea that I might be gay" – discouraging Spacey from publicly coming out as gay until the age of 58.
