GLAAD has called out Kevin Spacey for using his coming out as a way to distract from damning sexual assault allegations.
GLAAD called out Kevin Spacey for using his coming out as a way to distract from damning sexual assault allegations.
Spacey, 58, announced on Twitter Sunday that he was choosing « to live as a gay man » in the same statement he used to apologize to actor Anthony Rapp for an alleged encounter when Rapp was just 14.
Sarah Kate Ellis – the LGBTQ advocacy organization’s president and CEO – did not mince words when it came to how she felt about Spacey’s decision to combine his apology with the shocking revelation of his sexuality.
« Coming out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault, » she wrote on Twitter. « This isn’t a coming out story about Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp & those who speak out about unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that. »
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Spacey wrote in his statement that he was « horrified » to hear Rapp’s story, but did not remember the encounter. Rapp, now 46, alleged to BuzzFeed News that when he was a teen, Spacey hauled Rapp over his shoulder, tossed him onto a bed and climbed on top of him in an attempt to « seduce » the « Star Trek: Discovery » actor after a party at Spacey’s apartment.
Spacey wrote in his statement that he was « horrified » to hear Rapp’s story, but did not remember the encounter.
« If I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years, » Spacey wrote.
He then followed up by writing that Rapp’s story had encouraged him to « address other things » about his life — namely his sexuality.
Anthony Rapp claims Kevin Spacey tried to seduce him at 14
Many on social media, however, shared Ellis’ disdain for Spacey’s timing.
« Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out, » comedian Billy Eichner wrote on Twitter.
