Anthony Rapp

The House of Cards star was sued by actor Anthony Rapp, who alleged he was subjected to an "unwanted sexual advance" when he was a teenager.

He accused Spacey of lying on the witness stand. [Spacey](https://news.sky.com/topic/kevin-spacey-7220) had "categorically denied" the allegations. Spacey "categorically denied" the claims.

A New York court ruled on Thursday that there was no evidence of actor Kevin Spacey sexually abusing Anthony Rapp in 1986.

He also pledged to advocate “for efforts to ensure we can live and work in a world that is free from sexual violence of any kind.” Rapp said the abuse happened in 1986 when Rapp, then 14, met Spacey at a party in Manhattan. The ruling comes at the end of a three-week civil trial in New York.

The verdict in federal court in Manhattan brings to a conclusion a civil trial that was an outgrowth of the #MeToo movement. The lawsuit, based on 2017 claims ...

The simple truth is that this happened,” he said. He accused Mr Spacey of lying on the witness stand. When the verdict was read, Mr Spacey dropped his head.

Lawyers on behalf of the Hollywood actor praised the 'swift and decisive verdict', which was returned on Thursday in his favour.

Mr Rapp had claimed that Mr Spacey had surprised him at the party by picking him up “like a bride” and putting him on a bed. He testified that he was sure he was never alone with Mr Rapp on any occasion in 1986, and that Mr Rapp’s claim he had made a pass at him after a party at his apartment was not true. The actor, 63, had “categorically denied” the accusations and said he “did not harbour any sexual interest or desire in Mr Rapp at the time or since” the incident, which allegedly at a party when Mr Rapp was 14 years old.

Lawsuit sought $40m in damages after Rapp claimed the actor tried to sexually abuse him when he was 14.

At the time, Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. Rapp is a regular on TV’s Star Trek: Discovery and was part of the original Broadway cast of Rent. He accused Spacey of lying on the witness stand.

Los Angeles: A New York jury has sided with actor Kevin Spacey in a $40 million civil lawsuit, finding that the Oscar-winner did not molest Anthony Rapp ...

“(Kevin Spacey) cannot control his sexual urges when they come up,” Richard Steigman, one of the lawyers on Rapp’s team, said. Spacey also faces charges in the U.K. Confidential,” as well as the Netflix series “House of Cards.” Rapp was 14 years old at the time and Spacey was 26. “We’re very grateful to the jury for seeing through these false allegations,” she said. “Bringing this lawsuit was always about shining a light, as part of the larger movement to stand up against all forms of sexual violence,” he wrote.

Anthony Rapp-Kevin Spacey verdict exonerates Spacey in child sex abuse suit. But it unfairly implicates #MeToo and hurts silent survivors.

There was no reason to allow the trial to demonize a movement that encourages reporting sex crimes and discourages sexual abuse. For the defense in this case, it was a good gamble to appeal to anti-#MeToo sentiment since surveys find that it’s rampant in some populations. [called the Rapp-Spacey trial](https://variety.com/2022/film/news/kevin-spacey-anthony-rapp-metoo-trials-harvey-weinstein-danny-masterson-paul-haggis-1235392113/) a #MeToo case raising issues of “power imbalances … As a matter of principle, we should want anyone alleging a sex crime to have the evidence presented to a jury to determine what happened. The jurors should not have been asked — as they effectively were — to put a movement on trial based on innuendo and speculation about its role in Rapp’s suit. There was a lot of fear in the air about who was going to be next.” [ He defiantly proclaimed](https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/celebrity/kevin-spacey-trial-verdict-reached-jurors-sex-abuse-suit-brought-antho-rcna53266) that his lawsuit was “part of the larger movement to stand up against all forms of sexual violence.” But in doing so, it was made to view this evidence through the lens of insinuations about the #MeToo movement and speculation about its impact on Rapp’s allegations. It’s not an accident the jury was put in that position, though. [The focus of the testimony the jury heard](https://apnews.com/article/kevin-spacey-anthony-rapp-lawsuit-explainer-5c7c5c6dbabb893867423c8b73669b9c) concerned a decades-old allegation of sexual assault when Rapp, then 14, was a guest in Spacey’s apartment. He told the jury he remembered having no interest in Rapp, who was “like a kid” the night he met him. As the proceedings unfolded, it was clear that the #MeToo movement’s legitimate efforts to empower silent survivors of sexual abuses to disclose their suffering and end the scourge of sexual assault were being challenged, too.

The verdict brings to a conclusion a trial that was an outgrowth of the #MeToo movement. Deliberations began in midafternoon after a lawyer for Rapp, Richard ...

Spacey also gave courtroom spectators a brief taste of his acting chops when he briefly imitated his Broadway costar at the time, Jack Lemon. Rapp's claims, and those of others, abruptly interrupted what had been a soaring career for the two-time Academy Award winning actor, who lost his job on the Netflix series "House of Cards" and saw other opportunities dry up. He said the actor, then 26, picked him up and briefly laid on top of him on a bed. "Sometimes the simple truth is the best. When the verdict was read, Spacey dropped his head, then hugged his lawyers. Jurors at a federal court in New York deliberated for a little more than an hour before deciding that Rapp hadn't proven his allegations.

According to reports from US media, the jury deliberated for 90 minutes before coming to a unanimous decision.

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