Actors Anthony Rapp and Kevin Spacey both testified in a civil trial this month about an alleged encounter in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. on the bed and climbed on top of him, with Mr. Spacey’s groin pressed against the side of his hip. Mr. Spacey denied that the encounter ever happened.
In the end, the judge dismissed Mr Rapp’s allegation of intentional mental distress, so the subsequent trial relied solely on the battery claim.
‘I knew something was really wrong’
Mr. Rapp said his meeting with Mr. Spacey happened after a party at Mr. Spacey’s Manhattan apartment in 1986, during a season in which both actors performed on Broadway.
Mr. Rapp testified that after the other guests had left, Mr. Spacey appeared in the bedroom doorway, unsteady and wearing glasses. Mr. Spacey held the baby, Mr. Rapp testified, describing it like a groom carrying his bride over the threshold. Mr Spacey then laid him down on the bed and climbed on top of him, pressing his “full weight” on him, Mr Rapp said.
“I know something is really wrong now,” said Mr Rapp, recalling feeling frozen in place.
Rapp testified, ducking under Mr. Spacey, he locked himself in a nearby bathroom before making his way out of the apartment.
Mr Rapp also testified about how the encounter affected him, saying it was the “most traumatic event” of his life. Whenever he saw Mr. Spacey on screen, Mr. Rapp testified, he would immediately recall a meeting from 1986. Watching Mr. Spacey’s character show a sexual interest in a teenager. in the movie “American Beauty” was “incomprehensiblely familiar”, Mr. Rapp testified.
‘Never apologize for something you didn’t do’
When Mr Spacey made the stance, he said he was confident Mr Rapp’s account was untrue when News published on BuzzFeed it was in 2017, but journalists advised him not to contest the story.
“I was encouraged to say sorry, and I learned a lesson,” Mr. Spacey testified, “that is, never apologize for something you didn’t do.”
Mr. Spacey testified that he was never alone with Mr. Rapp, and that his attorneys tried to discredit Mr. Rapp’s account in various ways. They said no one had confirmed that he or she attended the party Mr Rapp described, and that Mr Spacey was living in a studio apartment with no separate bedroom.
Mr. Spacey’s attorney, Jennifer L. Keller, also argued in court that Mr. Rapp had fabricated his story by borrowing details from “Precious Sons,” the Broadway play he was in that year. She said that in the play, a drunken character mistakes his son, played by Mr Rapp, for his wife, picking him up and lying on top of him in a way that mirrors Mr Rapp’s allegations. Mr. Rapp said his meeting with Mr. Spacey was not related to the staging of the play.
Other witnesses
Each side had a forensic psychiatrist testify on its behalf after assessing Mr. Rapp. Days after one of them, Dr Lisa Rocchio, testified that he had delayed post-traumatic stress disorder, another, Dr Alexander Bardey, said he disagreed and instead Mr. Rapp suffered from narcissistic personality disorder.
Several witnesses testified that Mr. Rapp had told them about the meeting with Mr. Spacey in the years after he said it happened.
Another accuser of Mr. Spacey, Andy Holtzman, testified that in 1981 Mr. Spacey groped his genitals and rubbed the groin of Mr. Holtzman, then 27. Mr. Spacey denied the claim.
