The twists and turns in the saga surrounding Kevin Spacey are beginning to get almost as juicy as an episode of House of Cards itself.
With new allegations popping up daily, and the storm around the actor growing, more details are coming to light which re-affirm what we keep being told – that these problems stretch way back. In fact, as it turns out, one inappropriate incident in particular occurred during production on season 1 of the aforementioned Netflix series.
Though we don’t have the exact details of what happened, what we can tell you is that “someone on the crew shared a complaint about a specific remark and gesture made by Spacey.” Of course, the streaming giant investigated the situation and while everything was ultimately resolved, the actor did end up participating in a “training process” – whatever that may mean.
Again, this all comes to us from a recent press release sent out by MRC, who produces House of Cards, and understandably, they’ve refrained from giving us too many details. Still, it’s fascinating to hear about this as former showrunner Beau Willimon said just a few days ago that he “neither witnessed nor was aware of any inappropriate behavior on set or off” during his time on the series.
You can check out both the official statement from MRC, and Netflix, below, which confirm Spacey’s inappropriate actions:
MRC statement:
We are deeply troubled to learn about these new allegations that are being made to the press concerning Kevin Spacey’s interaction with members of the crew of House of Cards. As the producer of the show, creating and maintaining a safe working environment for our cast and crew has always been our top priority. We have consistently reinforced the importance of employees reporting any incident without fear of retaliation and we have investigated and taken appropriate actions following any complaints.For example, during our first year of production in 2012, someone on the crew shared a complaint about a specific remark and gesture made by Kevin Spacey. Immediate action was taken following our review of the situation and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved. Mr. Spacey willingly participated in a training process and since that time MRC has not been made aware of any other complaints involving Mr. Spacey.
In response to the current situation, on Tuesday of this week, MRC installed an anonymous complaint hotline, crisis counselors, and sexual harassment legal advisors for the crew. MRC will continue to thoroughly investigate all current claims and any new claims that are formally brought to our attention, and will continue to monitor our own production and practices to ensure that our cast and crew feel safe and supported.”
Netflix statement:
“When the allegations broke about Kevin Spacey on Sunday night, in conjunction with MRC, we sent a representative to set on Monday morning. Netflix was just made aware of one incident, five years ago, that we were informed was resolved swiftly. On Tuesday, in collaboration with MRC, we suspended production, knowing that Kevin Spacey wasn’t scheduled to work until Wednesday. Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set.We continue to collaborate with MRC and other production partners to maintain a safe and respectful working environment. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the production, and have nothing further to share at this time.”
These statements were released in response to claims from several former crew members on House of Cards, who spoke to CNN this week and relayed a couple of disturbing stories of their time with the actor on set. While the two companies only acknowledge the one incident mentioned in their statements, we’ve no doubt that there were many other instances of Kevin Spacey acting inappropriate. After all, it’s starting to sound like nearly everything he touched was turned toxic somehow by his behavior.
As for House of Cards, production has been halted for the time being, though we still expect season 6 to arrive at some point in 2018. Watch this space for more.
