A jury in New York acquitted American actor Kevin Spacey in a sexual harassment case for lack of hard evidence. This is reported by the AP agency.
The lawsuit against Spacey was filed by 50-year-old Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp. He stated that in 1986, at the age of 14, he was sexually harassed by Spacey during a party at his home in Manhattan. Rapp claimed that the actor, who was then 26 years old, grabbed him by the buttocks, put him on the bed and lay down on top.
He first voiced his allegations in 2016. Then Spacey said that he did not remember doing something like that, but emphasized that he should "sincerely apologize" to Rapp if harassment really took place. Rapp said it was the "most traumatic event" of his life and demanded $40 million in damages from Spacey.
After that, 10 more people accused Spacey of sexual harassment. The actor was fired from the series "House of Cards", where he played the main role, and also cut out all the scenes with him from the movie "All the Money in the World." In 2019, one of the plaintiffs refused to testify, resulting in one of the charges being dropped from the actor. In the summer of 2022, Spacey pleaded not guilty to five charges.