Next year in London, Kevin Spacey will go on trial again.
On Tuesday, the defense team in the civil lawsuit against actor Kevin Spacey put accuser Anthony Rapp through his paces in federal court in Manhattan.
Rapp testified that there are holes in his testimony about how the actor sexually assaulted him when he was 14 years old in 1986. While Rapp testified that the alleged event occurred in a bedroom at Spacey’s Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan, Spacey’s attorney, Jennifer Keller, managed to get Rapp to concede that “it is plausible” there was no bedroom and that Kevin Spacey instead resided in a studio.
The defense hopes to convince the jury that Rapp has confused fiction with reality.
Members of the jury were shown a clip from the 1986 Broadway production of “Precious Sons,” in which Ed Harris played Rapp’s father.
Kevin Spacey’s accuser, Anthony Rapp
A drunken Harris climbs on top of his made-up kid in the play because he mistakes him for his wife. He carries Rapp in his arms in another moment. According to Rapp’s testimony, a visibly intoxicated Kevin Spacey picked him up and carried him to his bed “like a groom carrying a bride,” when he then climbed on top of him.
Kevin Spacey’s attorney said that the claimed encounter involving his client had some similarities to the play since there was no erection, no kissing, and no touching of genitalia. She followed up by inquiring as to how long the accused had been telling his “Spacey narrative.”
Rapp said, “Fifteen to thirty seconds is my best guess.”
When Keller heard that Kevin Spacey had broken into a bedroom, she questioned Rapp on how he had done it.
Keller made a snarky remark along the lines of, “I know that you’re an actor on ‘Star Trek,’ but I know you’re not suggesting that he used a transporter to get himself to the door.”
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Rapp, who testified while dressed in a black suit and tie, seemed to have memory lapses and conceded that his timeline of events was incorrect.
The “Rent” actor said under direct questioning that he was motivated to come out with his charges against Spacey after reading an article by Lupita Nyong’o about her own experience with Harvey Weinstein. However, during cross-examination, Rapp admitted that he had talked to a reporter approximately a week before Nyong’o’s piece was published and that the reporter had published Rapp’s account first.
In that case, her account couldn’t have been the impetus.
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For Rapp, it was important to “join the spirit of the other women who had accused Harvey Weinstein” by coming forward. Kevin Spacey, who was dressed in a black suit and crimson tie, shook his head as if in amazement.
After the alleged event, the “Rent” actor reflected on the first time he saw Spacey on film. It was the film Working Girl that he was now viewing.
A cattle prod could as well have been used on me. I literally sprang from my chair as Rapp put it.
Rapp claims that he has viewed multiple Kevin Spacey films over the years because “it was my responsibility as an actor.” He said that doing so brought up painful memories of an incident that supposedly occurred when he was 14 years old. He opted to end on “American Beauty,” which he described as “particularly painful” and “unpleasantly familiar,” as Spacey’s character in the film is an older man who abuses a youngster.
Having worked in the same field for so long, Rapp said that he was constantly nervous about bumping into Spacey. According to his testimony, this happened in 1993, during the shooting of a movie, in the lunchroom. When Rapp “felt frozen” once again, that was literally the case. It would be in 1999 at the Gershwin Theater for the Tony Awards.
As Rapp relates, he and Kevin Spacey exchanged glances after meeting in the toilet.
Being the target of his stare was a disconcerting ordeal. Not a single word was said between them – Rapp.
When I was at a Lincoln Center charity performance in “2013, 2014,” another time. Rapp claims he was sitting in the front row when, out of nowhere, Kevin Spacey made his way to the podium to kick off the proceedings.
He expressed his feelings at the moment, saying, “I’ll tolerate this discomfort… this painful sense of being in his company.”
Rapp also said that he had discussed the incident with therapists. In 2017, he first disclosed the information to a medical professional. When he realized “the long-term influence on me,” he said. During his testimony, Rapp regularly closed his eyes for brief periods, as if trying to recall something from the past.
Rapp is suing for money in a civil court, while the star of “American Beauty” is scheduled for a criminal trial in London next year.