In recent weeks, a civil trial has been playing out between Star Trek: Discovery star Anthony Rapp and actor Kevin Spacey. With Rapp’s accusations of sexual abuse counting as one of the most visible claims against the Academy Award-winning actor, the ensuing legal proceedings have been hotly followed in the media. It’s all come to a close now, as Anthony Rapp’s lawsuit against Kevin Spacey has been decided.
Per reporting from Variety, the $40 million civil suit saw the jury finding in the favor of Spacey after a little over an hour of deliberation. As a result, the former House of Cards star is “not liable for battery,” as this verdict refutes Rapp’s claim that Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted him when he was 14 years old. According to an account from the reading of the verdict, Spacey hugged a member of his defense team while Anthony Rapp “looked impassive.”
Supposedly it all came down to one key detail cited by attorney Jennifer Keller, one of the members of Team Spacey. In her words, this is supposedly what won the day for the defense:
The star witness of our case was the floor plan.
Keller’s remarks refer to a detail in Anthony Rapp’s testimony, in which he claimed that Kevin Spacey’s bedroom was compartmentalized in his apartment at the time. Supposedly the proceedings proved that this was false, as that apartment was proven to have a studio layout. At this time, there’s no word on whether Anthony Rapp will appeal the ruling or not.
Kevin Spacey himself had, of course, vehemently refuted the claims that he sexually assaulted his accuser during the course of this trial. Part of his testimony supporting that claim alleged that he was more interested in Doctor Who star John Barrowman around the time of the alleged assault. Perhaps the most cutting remarks from this testimony were those that indicated Spacey felt he shouldn’t have apologized for something that he felt he did not do.
Meanwhile, Anthony Rapp’s testimony indicated his own recollection of events impacted how he viewed some of Spacey’s performances. That claim let to attorney Jennifer Keller questioning Rapp about American Beauty, more specifically the seduction scenes involving Kevin Spacey. In his own admission, that was the final performance that Rapp could watch from the actor, as he had recognized the behavior he felt he fell victim to in that film.
The verdict in the Anthony Rapp/Kevin Spacey civil suit comes not too long after woes that the trial might have had to delay due to a COVID outbreak among the jurors. It isn’t the end of Spacey’s legal wrangling, as he faces multiple charges in the UK courts, which will go to trial at some point next year.
For now, there’s one less case to follow in the ongoing legal battles of Kevin Spacey. How, or even if, this will effect Spacey’s potential acting comeback is yet to be seen. All anyone can really say is that the legal system processed this case with due process, and the next steps remain to be seen.
