Over the last three weeks, almost every day, more women have come forward to share their stories about how Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed and or abused them. Annabella Sciorra and Daryl Hannah are the latest to speak with Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker. If it’s not Harvey Weinstein, it’s James Toback. At last count, there were 82 women who’ve gone public with their Harvey Weinstein experiences and over 300 women have accused James Toback. Not surprisingly James’s response to the allegations – from OVER 300 women – was to tell Rolling Stone that anyone with claims against him is a “lying cocksucker or a c-nt, or both”. Sure. That clears it up.

This has been the dominant conversation in Hollywood for almost a month. And while the institutions and power systems that have enabled these predators for so long are still standing (The Weinstein Company has reportedly received a $35 million loan from Fortress Investment Group and 22 other businesses are said to be interested in acquiring TWC – but Bob Weinstein’s position may be in jeopardy), one undeniably positive takeaway has been that silence is no longer an option for many victims. Including Anthony Rapp.

In an interview with Buzzfeed, Anthony reveals that when he was 14 years old, he and Kevin Spacey, then 26, became friends. One night, at a party, Anthony says that Kevin picked him up, carried him to bed, and climbed on top of him. Anthony was able to “squirm” away and eventually left and his outrage has grown through the years as Kevin’s become more and more successful.

Here is Kevin Spacey’s response:


He doesn’t remember. Like Harvey Weinstein, he doesn’t open with an apology. The apology comes with an excuse – of drunkenness. After the apology, he moves onto a different topic:

I’m gay!

As many, many others have pointed out, Kevin Spacey has made a gross situation even grosser. He is attempting to take away from Anthony’s story with his own story – after years of not confirming whether or not he’s gay, he’s chosen THIS MOMENT to declare that he is, hoping perhaps that that would be the major headline. And, initially, it was. Many outlets led last night with that part of his response – “Kevin Spacey comes out” – instead of with the fact that he sexually assaulted Anthony Rapp. Those headlines have since been amended but that was the point: to distract from the real issue and also to…

What?

What does Kevin Spacey being gay have to do with him sexually assaulting Anthony Rapp? The LGBTQ community has worked for decades to dispel the fallacy that homosexuality and pedophilia are related. Kevin Spacey has done a flagrant and irresponsible disservice to those efforts at a time when misinformation about sexuality continues to damage and seriously harm people in the community who continue to be misunderstood and marginalised. I’ll leave you with this tweet from Mark Harris.