The public condemnation also affected the American’s life’s work. Spacey will turn 65 next Friday (July 26) – never found guilty, but in a sense convicted.
It was only a few years ago that Kevin Spacey was the darling of the masses, celebrated and welcomed wherever he went. But then came the fall of 2017. In the course of the MeToo debate, allegations of sexual assault and harassment were made against the Oscar winner (“American Beauty”) – in more than 30 cases. From then on, Spacey was mentioned in the same breath as sex offender Harvey Weinstein. A fall that could hardly have been deeper.
30 years of steep uphill progress
Until then, Spacey had been on a steep upward trajectory for 30 years – thanks to his unparalleled talent, especially for roles with dark secrets. His breakthrough in film was as a serial killer in “Seven”. In 1996, he received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for “The Usual Suspects” and four years later the award for Best Actor in “American Beauty”. He received a Golden Globe for his brilliant portrayal of US politician Frank Underwood in the Netflix mega-hit “House of Cards”.
But in light of the revelations against film mogul Harvey Weinstein, several men accused Spacey of sexual assault. “My world changed completely in the fall of 2017,” Spacey once said. “My job, many of my relationships, my reputation in my own industry – all of that was gone within hours,” he summed up.
Netflix ended the collaboration
Netflix ended its collaboration on “House of Cards” and sued Spacey for damages after complaints arose from employees on the set. Scenes with Spacey in the thriller “All The Money in the World” were subsequently removed. New roles were no longer an option.
The first major trial involved allegations made by actor Anthony Rapp. Rapp had accused Spacey of sexually assaulting and injuring him at a party in 1986. Rapp demanded damages. But Spacey won the case, and the jury in New York unanimously decided in 2022 that he was not guilty.
A jury in London reached the same conclusion last year, where four men had accused Spacey of sexual offenses. Two other civil lawsuits in the United States were withdrawn.
Acquittals do not necessarily mean innocence
Acquittals do not necessarily mean innocence. Especially in trials involving sexual assault and rape, it is extremely difficult for the prosecution to prove crimes after the fact. The extent to which Spacey’s behavior was justiciable will probably never be clearly established.
Spacey had kept his homosexuality a secret for a long time. “I tried things, but I didn’t want to admit who I was. I was terrified of finding out,” he told “Zeit” magazine in 2023. Regarding his career, he said at the time that there was no school where you could learn how to deal with fame. “I really tried not to be an asshole. But I think to some extent I was an asshole.”
The major accusations are legally off the table, at least for now. But society’s judgment of Spacey is still relevant. Apart from small roles, his career has been at a standstill. A recent interview with British talk show host Piers Morgan caused a stir. Spacey said that he had become impoverished due to legal costs and lack of income, that he had millions in debt and that he had had to sell his house.
“I can’t pay the bills I owe,” he said. He also doesn’t know where he’s going to live now. Morgan asked him what he’s going to do now. A pause. “Get back on the horse. Get back on the horse,” Spacey says, visibly shaken, on the verge of tears, pathetic. His critics would probably say: movie-worthy.
