Kevin Spacey cleared by jury in civil sex abuse case
Kevin Spacey dodged another set of misconduct claims on Thursday, when a Manhattan federal court jury cleared him in a lawsuit alleging he sexually abused a 14-year-old boy in 1986.
Jurors deliberated for a little over an hour before siding with the disgraced Oscar-winner over plaintiff Anthony Rapp, finding the latter had failed to prove Spacey made unwanted sexual advances and inappropriately touched him 36 years ago.
Rapp, who sued Spacey for $40 million, will be awarded no money in damages because of the panel’s decision.
Spacey leaned forward but betrayed no emotion as the verdict was read, as one supporter clapped loudly in the courtroom.
The “American Beauty” actor did not comment as he left the courthouse.
His lawyer, Jennifer Keller, said they were, “Very grateful to the jury for seeing through these false allegations.”
“There was no truth to any allegations,” she said. “This was a highly intelligent, highly educated jury… They’re bright people.
“Mr. Spacey is deeply grateful,” Keller said.
The verdict came after a civil trial that began Oct. 6 and saw both the 63-year-old Hollywood star and his accuser, 50, take the stand.
“What’s next for Mr. Spacey is going to be proving that he’s innocent of anything he’s been accused of,” his attorney said, in what appeared to be a reference to other allegations of sexual misconduct against her client, including in England, where he faces a criminal case.
Rapp’s attorney, Richard Steigman, declined to comment as he left court.
Rapp claimed Spacey, then 26, climbed on top of him and made sexual advances towards him when he attended a party at the fellow actor’s Manhattan apartment at the age of 14.
During closing arguments, Steigman said Rapp had been honest in his claims — and that the lawsuit was not part of some 30-year vendetta against Spacey.
“The simple truth here is: This happened, he shared it, and after all this time, he’s come here to share that truth with you,” the lawyer told jurors.
Over the course of the three-week trial, Spacey’s attorneys argued Rapp was a disgruntled, moderately successful actor who blamed the “American Beauty” star for every road bump in his career and his personal life.
Rapp “felt he deserved that same success as Mr. Spacey,” attorney Jennifer Keller told jurors at the opening of the trial on Oct. 6.
She continued that Rapp came up with a “false” story as a teenager, then repeated it for the next three decades every time he saw Spacey’s star rise by earning an Oscar or hosting an awards show.
Spacey, in his testimony, told jurors that he did not come out as gay earlier in life because of the “complicated family dynamic” he lived in as a child — saying his father was a neo Nazi.
“I have never talked about these things publicly,” he testified, at times in tears. “My father was a white supremacist and a new-Nazi. My father used to yell at me about the idea I might be gay.”
The claims were among a trail of sexual abuse allegations that have dogged Spacey for decades — and which derailed his career amid the #MeToo movement, leading to him getting booted from the hit Netflix series “House of Cards.”
The late Scandinavian writer Ari Behn claimed that Spacey groped him at a Nobel Peace Prize event in 2007, but never pursued legal action.
Last year, the actor caught a break when another accuser who alleged that Spacey groped him at a Nantucket bar in 2016 dropped his lawsuit and refused to testify in a criminal case against the actor.
A federal lawsuit filed by a California massage therapist who also claimed he was groped by the actor was dropped when the accuser died.
Los Angeles prosecutors also declined to pursue charges in a 1992 claim against the actor because the statute of limitations had expired.
In the one case still pending, Spacey is accused of abusing several men while working as an artistic director at London’s Old Vic Theater between 2005 and 2013.
He is charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity — the most serious charge — and is due to stand trial next year.
With Post wires