It’s pretty safe to say that Kevin Spacey‘s 2017 did not go the way he’d planned. He began the year riding high on the success of Netflix’s House of Cards and his upcoming performance in Ridley Scott’s All The Money In The World. He ended it universally vilified after a series of sexual assault allegations (including one involving a 14-year-old boy), compounded by a ham-handed apology that he tastelessly combined with his coming out.
This all stems from a series of allegations against Spacey from his time at London’s Old Vic Theatre, with Scotland Yard receiving 20 allegations of inappropriate behaviour relating to him. They led to a police investigation being opened that specifically looked into a claim of sexual assault in 2008. That was quickly followed by another claim of assault in 2005. Now, a third investigation has begun, also stemming from a 2005 incident.
The Metropolitan Police said the following in a statement to Deadline:
“On 1 November City of London Police referred an allegation of sexual assault to the Metropolitan Police Service. It is alleged a man assaulted another man (Victim 1) in 2008 in Lambeth. On 17 November we received allegations that the same man sexually assaulted a man (Victim 2) in 2005 in Lambeth. On 13 December we received an allegation that the man sexually assaulted a man (Victim 3) in 2005 in Westminster. Officers from the Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating.”
It’s been a sad fall from grace for the formerly respected actor, with his many fans (including myself) disappointed that a man we thought of as the byword for class, intelligence and style turning out to have been the centre of a “cult of personality” in which he used his power and influence to get away with unwanted sexual advances on young actors and junior staff. On top of all that, he’s also been hit by allegations that he refused to shake hands with his black security staff and apparently complained to his personal security manager that he didn’t want “n*ggers watching his trailer.”
What more can you say? It’ll be difficult to watch any Kevin Spacey movie now and not have all this at the back of my mind. I guess maybe I’ll still be able to enjoy Seven, though?
