Kevin Spacey’s lawyer tried Tuesday to poke holes in the story of another actor who claims Spacey made sexual advances on him when he was a teenager.
During an aggressive cross-examination at the civil trial in Manhattan, defense attorney Jennifer Keller zeroed in on discrepancies between Anthony Rapp’s account of how he first met Spacey in 1986 and that of an old friend who was there.
Rapp said he was 14 when Spacey invited him and a friend to a nightclub after meeting backstage at a Broadway play starring Spacey. He testified that they went home without incident shortly after leaving the nightclub.
However, the friend – who was in her late teens at the time – said in a statement that the pair actually went to Spacey’s apartment and that Spacey tried to lure the friend into a sexual encounter.
Reflecting on the friend’s statement, “You knew you had a problem with your story, right?” Keller asked.
“I don’t dispute his story. I just don’t remember it,” Rapp said.
According to Rapp, it was a few days later that he first went to Spacey’s apartment for a party. She has testified that after the other guests left, Spacey forced himself on her by pinning her to the bed – an allegation Spacey denies.
The cross-examination took place during the second week of the trial, which began with the allegation first made public in 2017 before Rape sued Spacey. It was one of a series of similar claims that largely shut down Spacey’s career, along with numerous accusations of inappropriate touching or sexual advances.
At the time, Spacey was starring in a Netflix political thriller. House of cards. He is also known for his role in the 1999 film American Beauty.which won him an Academy Award.
As a teenager, the 50-year-old acted in films including Rap Adventures in Babysitting. He was later part of the original Broadway cast. rentand is now a regular on. Star Trek: Discovery On television
Under questioning by his own attorney earlier Tuesday, Rapp described how he kept his classmates secret after the encounter with Spacey. She said she told the friend she was watching TV in the bedroom when Spacey “came in drunk, picked me up like a groomsman, and he tried to have sex with me. Climbed up and I managed to run away.”
He also recalled that when he was still in high school, he once went to see a movie starring Spacey and realized how traumatized he was. He said he felt like he was “stuck in cattle stuff. Like I jumped out of my seat. Adrenaline. Sweaty palms.”
He testified that in 1999, Rapp had a chance encounter with Spacey in a restroom at the Tony Awards.
“While I was washing my hands, Kevin Spacey walked through the door,” she said. “I looked at him and he looked at me. It was shocking. … I wanted to run away.
Rapp’s lawyer – responding to defense suggestions that Rapp had an obsession with Spacey – asked her, “Have you ever had a crush on Kevin Spacey?”
“No, I didn’t,” he replied.