Almost immediately after Rapp made this accusation publicly, Spacey issued an official statement in which he offered his "sincerest apology" for what he spuriously described as "inappropriate drunken behavior" that he supposedly doesn't even remember. Rapp claims that the incident took place after a party at Spacey's New York City flat, during which Spacey took Rapp up to his bedroom, laid him down in his bed, and proceeded to "climb on top of him."
The House of Cards star insists that he has no recollection of ever molesting Rapp, though he also seems strikingly unconcerned with the severity of such allegations. After apologizing in his statement for what he says he may have done to Rapp, Spacey immediately segues into a public "coming out" monologue in which he claims to have had relationships with both men and women, and has thus now chosen "to live as a gay man."
The mainstream media, after hearing the news about Spacey's sudden confession of gayness, quickly reoriented the narrative away from Spacey having potentially raped an underage boy. Instead, headlines that essentially praise Spacey for his supposed bravery in "coming out" have since taken its place, which many see as having been Spacey's intent all along when he decided to conclude his statement about the alleged rape by trying to garner support for being a "sexual minority."
"Coming-out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault," stated GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement following Spacey's conveniently inappropriate announcement about his "true" sexual identity. "This is not a coming-out story about Kevin Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp and all those who bravely speak out against unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that."
Others in the LGBTQ community have expressed similar outrage, including bloggers "Tom and Lorenzo" who, in a critique posted on their website, lambasted the American Beauty lead actor for attempting to use a coming-out confession as a cover for violating a young boy's innocence in the worst kind of way more than 30 years ago.
"We don't respect a man of his age and standing refusing to be open about who he is, but we respect his right to make that choice," the two bloggers wrote.
"But we vehemently reject the use of the standard celebrity coming-out announcement to distract from the fact that serious allegations have been made against him. Worse, the statement made it sound like feeling up 14-year-olds is just a thing that happens when gay men – pardon us, men who 'choose to live as a gay man' – get drunk."
Meanwhile, it has further come to light that Spacey may have had homosexual inclinations for many years. Even these accusations of pedophilia seem to resonate with what many in Hollywood see as an "open secret" about Spacey's sexual preferences – an episode of the animated adult show Family Guy, for instance, having once made a joke out of Spacey's leanings as a sexual molester of young children.
"Spacey's disgusting, no matter how you slice it," writes Ben Shapiro for The Daily Wire. "Media that cheer Spacey coming out in response to a pedophilia allegation are nearly as awful."
Sources for this article include: