Kevin Spacey Accused of Sexual Misconduct, Confirms Rumors He Is Gay

[Kenny]

I also found it extreme and insulting. "Ah, that explains why you don't agree with me. Because you're disturbed yourself." Quite rude and intellectually lazy.

HTW was dissing victims of sexual assault, who apparently can’t claim his manly virtues. Insult is not unwarranted.

[+ WilliamM]

My worry is if we react to this with such horror, doesn't it diminish serious sexual assaults which go beyond drunken passes or gropes or suggestive comments or flashing?

 

Spacey waited until the 18-year old was drunk in a bar and then reached inside his pants.

[rogerG]

When I was in my later teens, performing in community theater, it was pretty common for older gay men to "grab crotch," and prey on the younger boys. I was warned to watch out for certain men at cast parties, especially the parties that served liquor. The "grab crotch" guys did it as if they had some sacred right to do it. Add alcohol and cigarette breath to their assault, and perhaps you can imagine the dread I felt.

 

As a teen, I never liked having my package grabbed unprovoked. It wasn't sexy, because it was irritating. Even as an adult, I prefer a more gentle hand. I was not into guys older than I was. It took many years of maturing before I could figure all this out and decide how I wanted to behave and how I wanted to be treated.

 

I could see the "grab crotch" men of those days hating what's going on now. It puts them in their place and warns them. Lay off, and keep your fucking hands and tongues to yourself.

[Nvr2Thick]

https://entertainment.theonion.com/entirety-of-hollywood-film-industry-replaced-with-40-00-1820307690

[hornytwells]

HTW was dissing victims of sexual assault, who apparently can’t claim his manly virtues. Insult is not unwarranted.

Where was I 'dissing" victims of sexual assault? I have every sympathy and empathy with any victims of such. My question was, do we define a drunken pass made at a drunk 18 year old guy in a crowded bar as a serious sexual assault, to the degree that it 'traumatised" him for the rest of his life? My brushing off such an advance I do not consider to be a "manly virtue' but just another way of dealing with it. Apparently you think a dissenting view from your own warrants an insult-that is rather telling in itself

[+ WilliamM]

do we define a drunken pass made at a drunk 18 year old guy in a crowded bar as a serious sexual assault, to the degree that it 'traumatised" him for the rest of his life?

 

It was a planned sexual assault by a famous actor. I have written it before in this thread. Spacey waited until the 18-year old was drunk. Then Spacey reached inside the young man's pants.

[Kenny]

It was a planned sexual assault by a famous actor. I have written it before in this thread. Spacey waited until the 18-year old was drunk. Then Spacey reached inside the young man's pants.

True. And apparently, Spacey helped him get drunk.

[+ WilliamM]

Can we agree that what happened in Massachusetts was far more than a "delicate" 18-year old. I am done now.

The Daily Mail, November 11, 2017

 

"Earlier this week at a press conference, Susan Unruh said the shamed actor assaulted her son at a restaurant in Nantucket.

 

She said Spacey repeatedly stuck his hand down the pants of the 18-year-old.

 

The boy was eventually able to get away when a woman walked over to him while the actor was in the bathroom and said: 'Run!'"

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5073559/Prosecutors-set-meet-Kevin-Spacey-accuser.html#ixzz4yAWivLRR

[+ friendofsheila]

I must have run with a tough crowd when I was 18 because I certainly didn't know anyone so delicate.

 

Please consider yourself acquainted with me, then.

[+ WilliamM]

The Guardian November 16, 2017

 

The Old Vic theatre has “wholeheartedly” apologised for not creating an environment where people could raise concerns about Kevin Spacey after receiving 20 individual allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the actor.

 

The theatre said 14 of the allegations were so serious that it had advised complainants to take the matter up with the police.

 

An investigation into the conduct of Spacey during his 11 years at the Old Vic has concluded that the actor’s star power, which the theatre described as a “cult of personality”, contributed to failings at the organisation.

 

Note: I wanted to return to Spacey because the Old Vic has advised 14 people to take the matter up with the police.

[+ quoththeraven]

There are probably skeletons in Everyones closets, and victims need to speak up in timely fashion so the perpetrators can be punished. Allowing victimization to continue foEvetr 30 + years just seems selfish in my opinion, IF the allegations are true.

Everyone is a sexual assailant who gets their jollies from sexual contact without checking with the other person first? Good to know.

[+ quoththeraven]

'The Advocate' knew about Kevin Spacey's encounter with teen, but didn't speak. Here's why

USA Today NetworkBruce Steele, The Citizen-Times Opinion Published 5:00 a.m. ET Oct. 31, 2017

My magazine had a 'no outing' policy and we stood by it...

 

This is not how we wanted Kevin Spacey to come out as openly gay. When I was an editor at Out magazine and The Advocate in the 1990s and early 2000s, the magazines asked Spacey's publicists for interviews many, many times, typically getting no response at all.

 

Behind the scenes, I had long known Spacey was gay, or at least bisexual, in part because my friend Anthony Rapp had told me his story of a sexual pass Spacey made at him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was about 26. Rapp told me that in the mid 1990s, and we even printed his account of the encounter in The Advocate in 2001, with Spacey's name redacted, as BuzzFeed journalist Adam Vary reported in his thorough and eloquent report published Sunday night.

 

(Responding within minutes to the BuzzFeed publication, Spacey said he was "beyond horrified to hear (Rapp's) story." He did not deny it happened but said, "I honestly do not remember the encounter," nevertheless offering "the sincerest apology.")

Unlike Esquire (in 1997), the gay and lesbian magazines for which I worked never outed Spacey. At Out magazine, we repeatedly told everyone that the name of the magazine was an adjective, not a verb. We did not out people, preferring to give them the time and space to make that decision themselves, a healthier route to honesty on both sides. We were happy to pave the way, and often did, starting with Rupert Everett's coming out interview on the cover of Out's second issue in 1992.

 

At The Advocate, I had the honor to do coming out interviews with many people, famous and not so famous, including an NFL football player (Esera Tuaolo), an "American Idol" finalist (Jim Verraros) and actors such as Robert Gant. My predecessor as The Advocate's editor in chief, Judy Wieder, interviewed many more, including George Michael and Rosie O'Donnell.

 

But as Wieder describes in her new memoir, "Random Events Tend to Cluster" (Lisa Hagan Books), The Advocate had developed a "no outing" policy before I joined the staff, and we stuck to it. We cajoled, befriended and pressured, but we did not report on anyone's sexuality without their cooperation. Just as each of us had reached the decision to come out in our own time, celebrities needed the same opportunity, even if it took them years and years.

 

The result of a healthful, self-motivated decision to come out is often a stronger, more powerful person on the other side. In Wieder's memoir, she recounts our conversation about putting Nathan Lane on the cover in 1999. "I think he's waited too long" to deserve the cover, Wieder argues, but she changes her mind when I tell her what changed his mind: the murder of Matthew Shepard. Lane got the cover and gave an emotionally charged interview.

 

Obviously the situation is not the same with Kevin Spacey. Despite the Esquire story, Spacey has kept his private life extremely private throughout his career. Despite the Hollywood truism that "everybody knows" who's gay within entertainment and media circles, Spacey didn't flaunt his "secret" — unless you consider taking your mom to the Academy Awards a kind of declaration.

 

Of course, many close friends knew of Rapp's encounter with the actor in the 1980s, including some of us in the media. But what could be done with that story? There were only two people in the room, they had never met again and no parade of additional accusers was forthcoming — so, right or wrong, we told ourselves we could not report it.

 

In keeping with The Advocate's "no outing" policy, when Rapp related the entire incident to writer Dennis Hensley in 2001, we removed Spacey's name and identifying details. Rapp understood the decision, and he didn't share the story again via the news media until now.

 

Why now? That's an easy one. The Harvey Weinstein scandal and the resulting opening up of the media to legitimate accusations of unwanted sexual advances changed the rules, and Rapp felt compelled to share his story again, this time with names and dates.

 

His decision was not "to simply air a grievance," he told BuzzFeed, "but to try to shine another light on the decades of behavior that have been allowed to continue because many people, including myself, being silent. … I'm feeling really awake to the moment that we're living in, and I'm hopeful that this can make a difference."

 

It's a hope shared by many. The media's willingness now to report on behavior it long made excuses to avoid (and I don't exclude myself from that) is one thing. The real victory will be when the behavior itself is stopped, even behind the closed doors of hotel rooms and New York bedrooms like Spacey's.

 

In a statement clearly prepared in advance — he knew the story was coming — Spacey said the account "encouraged me to address other things about my life," alluding to "other stories out there about me." He asserted simply, "I now choose to live as a gay man."

 

As he asserted in his Twitter statement, Spacey may well not recall the encounter Rapp describes. It was more than 30 years ago, and Rapp says Spacey was drunk at the time. Whether what happened to Rapp was a singular mistake or a pattern of behavior may come to light in time, along with those "other stories" to which Spacey alluded.

 

The result all these revelations, and the decades of back story about what is told and what is withheld, both in Spacey's case and in Weinstein's and in so many others, should be a moral reckoning for the media. It reaches well beyond sexual misconduct. When immoral behavior of any kind is known to reporters and editors, what is our responsibility to "out" that behavior?

 

Clearly we have long erred, in certain cases, on the side of withholding until the evidence is irrefutable. That's not a sustainable standard.

 

What Rapp's revelation and Spacey's response prove is that even one person, with the story of one night, can make a difference. I will long ponder what we didn't do in 2001, I hope with concrete results about what we can do in 2017.

 

-- Bruce Steele is the planning editor at the Asheville Citizen-Times, where this piece first appeared.

So much for "not credible."

 

Also, it's clear from the statement that Spacey's bedroom was where Rapp, bored with the party, went to watch TV. That he might be unaware that everyone else had left isn't surprising.

[+ quoththeraven]

1. Its not a speech issue and there are statutes of limitation on claims for libel/slander. There isn't unlimited free speech in the US, something too many Americans don't understand. The concept of free speech, as many use it, relates to prohibitions on the GOVERNMENT impeding speech or prosecuting people for it. But even the government can limit speech when it relates to secret or confidential information a citizen has agreed to keep confidential.

 

2. When the government isn't involved, speech isn't unlimited. One cannot say or write something about another which harms that person without consequences. Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Employers can place limitations on speech and levy consequences for those who express offensively. Being held liable in a civilian court, somewhat unfortunately, often requires the plaintiff to demonstrate economic damages (someone claims a doctor groped them without proof, the doctor loses patients - income, so the doctor can - rightfully - sue the heck out of the person making the claim). If you were an actor and I made a claim without sufficient proof (think court of law proof) and that caused you to lose a lot of money you could sue me (and if I had money) likely win. Without consequences someone can say anything they want about anyone without the thought they need to be responsible or truthful.

 

3. To make my point it doesn't matter to me how Spacey responded. My primary point is its not right for anyone to make the claims that have been made over 30 years later given how society reacts because the next time someone makes a claim and its denied the person targeted will have it even harder to protect their reputation and their lives because guilt is too often assumed. The damages from any false claim, whether improper acts of a doctor/actor/whomever, can be far worse than economic.

He's a public figure. Standard is actual malice: said with disregard as to whether it's true or knowledge of falsity. Given the number of friends he confided in, I seriously doubt that standard could possibly be met. (Facts determined based on more likely than not standard.)

 

Besides, in the circumstances, this is all moot. Spacey didn't deny the allegations.

[+ quoththeraven]

Everything I have read suggest Rapp looked younger than his actual. So try thinking smaller than a usual 14 year old male.

And possibly sleepy or even napping after watching TV.

 

Also the element of surprise is a factor.

[+ quoththeraven]

I wish a man like Spicey would have seduced me when I was 14. It would have been perhaps the beginning of an amazing adventure for me.

It is amazing how easily we rush to judge and point fingers, when we ourselves participate in illegal activities and are easily judged and discriminated by mainstream society.

I guess it makes you feel good to be the one pointing your finger to others. Good for you.

But Rapp didn't want it. You don't get to judge his preferences by your own.

 

This sounds a lot like the "you should feel honored" response to grownass women (mostly teachers) raping teenage boys.

[+ quoththeraven]

No sir. In general I dissaprove this kind of relationship. What I am saying is that I would never rush to easily judge anyone in these controversial issues. And here too many are already condemning him so easily.

There are already many other such allegations.

[+ quoththeraven]

Spacey lives in NY, which has a superb selection of gay escorts-why not just hire?

Because sex is not the point. Exploitation is.

[+ quoththeraven]

EXACTLY!!! There was no need to pick upon the innocent!

Non-sex workers are the innocent? Does that make escorts guilty? If so, why?

[+ quoththeraven]

I have a friend named Gay.

 

Talese was named after his Italian grandfather, Gaetano. “Gay” was an Americanized version.

I attended high school with a girl named Gay Fellowes. We graduated in 1974. The use of the term to mean homosexual had not yet happened in our upstate New York community, and I didn't know of or hear about any teasing or negative repercussions.

 

But the guy who moved from downstate and carried his books in a backpack was given a harder time than the guy most people assumed was gay because he came across as femme, so who knows?

[+ quoththeraven]

Please understand, what I am saying is my own experience-am not remotely condoning or excusing sexually predatory behaviour. It is more that it seemed part of growing up to me to learn that people can act inappropriately and so my method of dealing with lewd gropes, drunken passes or suggestive comments was to rebuff them, and fortunately I was never forced to go further against my will. I guess the point I was trying to make is that at least to my mind there are things which are unpleasant experiences, and things that traumatise one for life.

I find your suggestion that my finding a pass made at me which I rebuffed as a "disturbed" view on sexual assault to be a bit extreme, but realise we all have our own views of what constitutes assault

Not everyone reacts the way you do. Not everyone realizes they can.

[+ glutes]

[+ glutes]

I do wish that Corey Feldman would just go to the police or hire a lawyer. I'm not sure why he needs a reported $10 million for a documentary.

 

Corey Feldman in hospital after being STABBED by a knife-wielding thug who opened his car door and attacked in what the actor claims is a 'revenge' ambush after making sexual abuse allegations

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-5553749/Corey-Feldman-STABBED-knife-wielding-thug-horrific-attack.html#ixzz5B2jG0VW6

[marylander1940]

[+ Awwshuck]

 

 

he's nuts

[+ Awwshuck]

No politics today, honey. Ahm here ta spread a lil Christmas cheer, maybe say a lil about Christmas dinner