Kevin Spacey takes to witness box to deny sex abuse claims

Kevin Spacey took to the witness box in a New York court to say he never made a sexual pass at the actor Anthony Rapp – who says the Academy Award-winning actor tried to bed him when he was 14.

Shortly after a federal judge dismissed an emotional distress claim against him Monday, Mr Spacey took the stand in a civil trial.

Mr Rapp sued Mr Spacey over his allegations that in 1986, Mr Spacey, then 26, climbed on top of him after a party. Mr Spacey, who has denied the account, testified on Monday about his childhood and his sexuality.

Earlier in the day, the judge dismissed a portion of Mr Rapp’s lawsuit, throwing out his claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress while allowing his battery claim to move forward. After Mr Rapp’s team rested Monday, the defence made a request that is common at that stage, asking the judge to dismiss the claims before the trial continues.

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Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who had dismissed an assault claim by Mr Rapp before the trial, dismissed the emotional distress claim after Mr Spacey’s team argued that it was based on the same conduct that served as the basis of the battery claim.

The judge’s decision came after Mr Rapp asserted in court that Mr Spacey’s behaviour toward him had caused lasting anxiety.

Mr Rapp testified last week that his encounter with Mr Spacey was “the single most traumatic event” of his life, and that he had been repeatedly upset by seeing Mr Spacey on-screen and in unexpected run-ins. A forensic psychologist who evaluated Mr Rapp on the plaintiff’s behalf testified that he had delayed onset post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mr Spacey’s lawyers countered that other incidents in Mr Rapp’s life, including statutory rape when he was a minor and physical violence from his partners, could have caused the emotional distress he described.

The case now solely rests on Mr Rapp’s claim that Mr Spacey committed battery against him after a party at Mr Spacey’s New York City apartment, during a Broadway season in which both were performing in shows. According to Mr Rapp’s account, Mr Spacey picked him up, laid him down on a bed and pressed his groin into Mr Rapp’s hip, before Mr Rapp was able to wriggle out from under him and leave.

Mr Spacey’s lawyers have suggested in court that Mr Rapp fabricated his accusation because he was frustrated at Spacey for not speaking publicly about his sexuality. In an interview with BuzzFeed News in 2017, Mr Rapp said that as Mr Spacey’s fame grew, he found himself wanting to “scream to the rooftops, ‘This guy is a fraud!’ ”

When Mr Spacey first took the stand Monday, he addressed his decision to keep his relationships with men private for much of his career. He testified that his father, whom he described as a “white supremacist and a neo-Nazi,” would sometimes use a derogatory term for gay men while screaming at him.

Despite rumors about his sexuality, Mr Spacey testified, he sought to maintain his privacy. “I had a lot of shame,” Mr Spacey testified. “I wanted people to remember characters I played and not know much about me.”

It wasn’t until BuzzFeed published its article about Mr Rapp’s accusations that Mr Spacey publicly acknowledged having romantic relationships with men, writing in a statement: “I choose now to live as a gay man.” Some people criticised Mr Spacey’s decision to come out at the same time he responded to Mr Rapp’s allegations of sexual misconduct.

In the 2017 statement, Mr Spacey said that he did not remember the encounter Mr Rapp described, but said that “if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” After Mr Rapp filed his lawsuit, Mr Spacey vehemently denied the encounter had occurred.

During his testimony Monday, Mr Spacey said he was counselled by his fearful publicists to take Mr Rapp’s allegation “seriously but not factually”.

“I literally didn’t know how to respond,” Mr Spacey said while weeping.

Because the allegations are more than 30 years old, Mr Rapp’s lawsuit is relying on a recent New York state law called the Child Victims Act, which included a limited period of time in which people who say they were sexually abused as children could sue. He is seeking damages in the case, which is in the US District Court in Manhattan.

Mr Spacey has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen men and is facing sexual assault charges in Britain, to which he has pleaded not guilty. This is Spacey’s first trial over sexual misconduct allegations. — This article first appeared in The New York Times.

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