The news of Kevin Spacey’s attempted sexual assault of then-14-year-old actor Anthony Rapp shocked and disturbed many. Rapp opened up about the incident in an interview with BuzzFeed, and talked about how it has had an impact on his life over the years. Since then, more men have come forward claiming that Spacey tried to sexually harass them as well.
Spacey took to Twitter hours after the interview was released to make a statement. The statement itself was interesting. In it, he said that he didn’t remember the incident, but that he felt sorry for Rapp if it happened and was sorry for how his “inappropriate drunken behavior” had impacted his life. He then included a paragraph where he said he wanted to start looking at this situation honestly and announced that he is a gay man.
After the statement was made, many people spoke out against the statement as a whole. They had a couple of issues with it, the first being with his response to the assault as a whole. The most common complaint was that Spacey wasn’t taking the situation itself seriously. They thought he seemed to be nonchalant about the impact he has had on Rapp’s life, despite his apology toward Rapp. The second complaint is about how Spacey decided to use this time to come out. A lot of people believe that this was a tactic used to lessen the blow. They think Spacey’s goal was to get in less trouble for his behavior by talking about how he has had to hide the truth about his sexuality to the world.
I’m not entirely sure about his motives, or what I feel about them. I think it’s nice that Spacey wants to look at the situation honestly, but it feels like he’s making the smallest effort possible to do so. Being honest is what’s expected of you, and it’s sad that I even have to think about giving him credit for honesty. That being said, his honesty is still at least appreciated in a world where celebrities are constantly lying and creating stories that will both fit the narrative and keep them out of trouble. It’s more than certain presidents can say right now.
None of this, however, makes Spacey an admirable person in my eyes.
I have friends who have had to fight hard to be accepted for being LGBTQ, both within their families and the community. They have struggled with how to be honest with the people around them out of fear of being rejected, which I cannot imagine going through. I am in awe of their strength. I feel the same way towards LGBTQ celebrities I admire who have had to face their own hardships coming out to the general public. The world can be a harsh place, and if you’re a friend of mine and have had to face some kind of negativity after coming out, just know that I love you for who you are and I’m glad you’re around.
Kevin Spacey coming out did not leave me in awe whatsoever. He used a terrible situation involving himself to come out and announce his sexuality. It’s great that he felt the need to open up about it, but it feels almost like a forced outing since it was on the heels of an interview where a male actor accuses him of assault. Was it something he decided to do in order to lessen the blow? I don’t know for sure, but if that’s the case it makes him even less admirable than before.
There’s a lot about the situation that we don’t know, because we aren’t Kevin Spacey and we don’t know his motives behind all of this. It’s great that he seems willing to accept the idea that he might have assaulted someone, but that’s not enough. Accepting the idea is about the tiniest shred of honesty you could have towards a situation as appalling as this, and to come out of the closet on the heels of that acceptance isn’t much better.
Kevin Spacey doesn’t deserve to be considered an LGBTQ icon for coming out in this manner, and his actions towards Anthony Rapp should leave a huge black mark on his acting legacy. His tiny steps to honesty and opening up do not erase the fact that he tried to assault a 14-year-old, drunk or otherwise. There are plenty of LGBTQ people to look up to and admire in our society, and Kevin Spacey is not one of them.