Years after Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey faced sexual assault allegations that seriously tarnished his career, the House of Cards star is now smack-dab in the middle of a highly publicized U.K. trial which sees Spacey facing 12 counts of sexual assault against four different men. But before Spacey was caught up in this trial, the 63-year-old actor was notably accused of sexual assault by actor Anthony Rapp.
Amid the allegations made by Rapp, Spacey eventually took to his official Twitter account to release a statement to his followers. In the aforementioned statement, Spacey subsequently denied the allegations made against him, while coming out as gay in the process — a decision that received a plethora of backlash and disdain from the LGBTQ+ community. And in typical Spacey fashion as of late, the once-popular actor offered one of the weakest responses ever as to why he decided to go public about his sexuality.
As per Variety, Spacey opened up about the situation while speaking in a London court this week, insisting that pressure from the gay community had haunted him for years, to which he decided that coming out during the assault allegations and addressing his sexuality publicly felt like the most beneficial move and a “positive” step. Spacey said:
“I was under a lot of pressure that I had to say something. That it would be a PR nightmare if I didn’t…. The gay community had been pressuring me for a very long time about coming out.”
Then again, giggling about inappropriately touching others certainly doesn’t fit the mold of someone who has been haunted by their sexuality for years. In fact, the majority of the gay community felt that Spacey “came out” to deflect the accusations made against him as a way to defend his actions due to him being gay. The move, whether it was Spacey’s own decision or a PR decision, certainly didn’t keep Spacey shielded from his poor behavior.