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Updated at 3pm
BRITISH POLICE ARE investigating a claim of sexual assault against Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, The Sun has reported.
Scotland Yard said it was looking into a complaint made over an incident in south London in 2008, but the Met Police told TheJournal.ie that it does not identify any person subject to an investigation unless they have been charged.
“On 1 November, City of London police referred an allegation of sexual assault to the Metropolitan police service,” a Scotland Yard spokesman told UK media outlets.
“It is alleged a man assaulted another man in 2008 in Lambeth. Officers from the child abuse and sexual offences command are investigating.”
The incident occurred near The Old Vic theatre, where Spacey was artistic director from 2004 to 2015, according to The Sun.
Meanwhile, former workers at The Old Vic told The Guardian newspaper that the London theatre ignored allegations of groping and inappropriate sexual behaviour.
“We were all involved in keeping it quiet. I witnessed him groping men many times in all sorts of different situations,” one said, on condition of anonymity.
The two-time Oscar winner “was taking advantage of the fact that he is this great icon.
He touched men on the crotch. Doing it really fast so they couldn’t get out of the way.
The thing that really upsets me is the hypocrisy of places like The Old Vic that pretend now that they didn’t know.
Rebecca Gooden, an intern at the theatre in 2010, said there were regular stories about Spacey’s behaviour.
She told The Guardian it was a “running joke” that “pretty” young men were not hired to work in theatre administration.
“I was informed that I was not allowed to talk about it outside the theatre. I am honestly sickened that the theatre has chosen to plead ignorance,” she said.
Axed
Elsewhere, Spacey has been dropped by a Hollywood talent agency as well as his publicist in the wake of sexual assault allegations made against him.
CAA, which has represented the actor for over a decade, as well as publicist Staci Wolfe are now distancing himself from the House of Cards star who has been accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in the 80s.
CNN is reporting that eight current or former House of Cards workers claim that Kevin Spacey made the production a “toxic” workplace and one ex-employee alleges the actor sexually assaulted him.
The workers’ identities were withheld from because they fear professional fallout. Among them is a former production assistant who alleged that Spacey assaulted him during one of the Netflix show’s early seasons.
The report accuses Spacey of allegedly targeted staffers who were typically young and male with nonconsensual touching and crude comments.
Netflix and Spacey’s publicist didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The fallout stems from last weekend’s BuzzFeed News report in which actor Anthony Rapp said that Spacey attempted to seduce him in 1986, when Rapp was 14.
Spacey apologised earlier this week for the incident but said he didn’t recall what might have been “drunken behaviour”. In a statement Wednesday, Spacey’s publicist said he’s seeking unspecified treatment.
Emmy Awards
It was also reported earlier today that Spacey will now not receive an international Emmy award following the allegations.
The Emmys confirmed the news in a statement published on its website last night.
Spacey was supposed to receive the International Emmy Founders Award next month. It was announced back in August that Spacey would be recognised as “one of the great multi-dimensional talents” who “crosses cultural boundaries to touch humanity”.
The statement read: “The International Academy has announced today that in light of recent events it will not honor Kevin Spacey with the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award.”
Spacey was accused by Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp of making a sexual advance on him at a party in 1986.
At the time Rapp was just 14 years old, while Spacey was 26.
With reporting by Associated Press and Hayley Halpin.
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Great to see people are unwilling to accept this kind of behaviour anymore, unless of course your the president. America is a strange creature.
@Mr Poopy Butthole: Were you not around before the election for any of the stories?
@Mr Poopy Butthole: your joking right.
@Mr Poopy Butthole: there were casing coming g to court just before election that were dropped just like Bill O Reilly” s and we know that cost him 32 million.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: to be fair if it wasn’t for trump and his “I’m a billionaire I can do anything and get away with it” is what started all this off. He’s after giving a voice to hundreds of potential victims. What a guy, he definitely knew what he was doing!
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: It’s great to see these type of creatures get their comeuppance no matter what their rank.
@Mr Poopy Butthole: Here’s a good starting point for you;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations
@Mr Poopy Butthole: He admitted to grabbing women by the pu$$y… And you want more info??? Tw@.
Guilty until proven innocent?
@Do the Bort man: he admitted it basically.
@Jeanniejampots: He didn’t Jeannie, he said he didn’t remember it happening and apologized if it did. There’s a big difference.
@B9xiRspG: He remembered being drunk though
@jason bourne: He didn’t admit to being drunk but stated instead that the behaviour would only have been the result of being drunk. In other words he’s saying that if he was sober he wouldn’t have done it.
It’s a very well written statement, seems his time on House of Cards paid of.
@Do the Bort man: “The presumption of innocence, an ancient tenet of Criminal Law, is actually a misnomer. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the presumption of the innocence of a criminal defendant is best described as an assumption of innocence that is indulged in the absence of contrary evidence (Taylor v. Kentucky, 436 U.S. 478, 98 S. Ct. 1930, 56 L. Ed. 2d 468 [1978]). It is not considered evidence of the defendant’s innocence, and it does not require that a mandatory inference favorable to the defendant be drawn from any facts in evidence.”
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Presumption+of+innocence
@Felicity Hensen: it refers to evidence & facts laid before a court, not an allegation made against someone in public.
@Joe Bloggs: People across these articles are saying these people are innocemt until proven guilty, when that’s not how the legal system works. They are also speaking like the reporters & publishing outlets have not done significant research to support their articles to, ironically, protect themselves from prosecution. Not being found guilty of a crime in a court of law does not equate to the person being innocent of the crime/s.
They moved away from him very very quickly since the story broke.
There must perhaps have been a sense that this was coming …. jaysas, all the blind eye turning, so it’s not just in Ireland then …
@RG Law:
It one big house of card just falling down
What about Casey Affleck and Ben Affleck, lousy examples to the next generation of young men as well.
@Diogenes: Indeed, one wonders if CA will be handing out the Best Actress in a Female lead Academy Award next year.
How very prescient of the Emmy Awards to announce all the way back in August that Spacey “crosses cultural boundaries to touch humanity”.
Do any of you remember your first girlfriend or boyfriend and you might have dropped the hand or went for a boob it come back to get you now let’s hope none of us ever got drunk and copped a feel or maybe a little more.Its really getting out of hand .
A government minister put his hand on a woman’s leg ,looses his job
A 94 year x us president pat a woman on the bottom while telling a joke and is now a preditor.
A poster on a bus Stop telling us not to say anything to women because it’s an offence to them
When and where is it going to stop
Does anyone remember the time they meet their partners they had to say hello and maybe a compliment,Not now you be classed a perve
This needs to stop
@owen kirwan: CONTEXT. If you understand context you’ll understand why the issue of sexual violence needs to be discussed. And teaching all members of society about consent and bodily autonomy will go a long way to preventing some of these crimes.
@owen kirwan: so we should just put up with men touching us up whenever they feel like it because they may lose their jobs if it’s talked about. The poor little mites.
@Dell:
What men? All men? You should go to the police but you had better have proof.
@Felicity Hensen: I fully agree with you that a person’s body is theirs and theirs only
What I’m trying to say is it’s getting out of hand their seems to be so many people men and women making allegations from 30 or 40 years back it looks like a the animal Winestine was outted as a preditor anyone can make an allegation and it’s the truth.
So a joke
Or a knee pat
Or a drunken fumble
Or a teenage encounter behind the bike shed .
Doesn’t make anyone a perve
And again if someone is assaulted the person responsible for it should answer.
But if someone came on to you 35 years ago in a disco and you didn’t fancy him or her doesn’t make them guilty of anything
@Dell: No it’s not ok and it’s never ok
But these are different times now
What I’m trying to say is we are going to find it harder to meet up with other people afraid to chat or flirt it seems to becoming an offence
@Marco Pollo: I was going to put time and effort into replying to you properly and then realised you are a troll.. Run along dear.
@owen kirwan: I don’t think so, I was in my twenties in a time where it was the norm to be felt up by some drunken idiot when you passed him in a night club and his mates thought it was hilarious. If you did go to a bouncer they may or may not act on it. People coming forward and talking about this is what stops it. No one is saying flirting is an offence and take it from me, young people have no problems in this are.
@owen kirwan: I have experienced forms of sexual violence throughout my life. In fact, I exist because of an act of sexual violence, rape. And yes, I agree with you that harmless teenage experiences by all genders may not fall under the heading of sexual violence. However, a person being coerced into sexual behaviour by a peer, or adult, does fall under sexual violence. And any person realising that incidents that happened in their youth/past, for which they may have spent a lot of time and effort playing down and trying to forget because ‘different times’, ‘we were young’, ‘it wasn’t that bad’, should be able to speak up and tell their story. Of course, it does not mean they can name someone on social media. The cases that you are reading about here are different because research would’ve been carried out before hand to protect the publishing outlet, as without it they would be libel for defamation, as would anyone posted a person’s name &/or photo on social media accusing them of sexual harrassment or assault. And should someone be shown to have falsely accused someone, absolutely they should face consequences for doing so.
@Dell:
everybody wants to be a victim and I suppose we are all victims of something or somebody, nobody cares Dell this is about money despite the misandrists jumping on board next news cycle it will be something else.
@Felicity Hensen: I’m very sorry you experienced that sickening attack I would never condone this behaviour from anyone anyone being forced or groomed is the victim and the other person needs jailing or worse .I have young adult children and would die to protect them from all forms of evel .I’m saying it is different now I’m not saying it was right even then but it was a different time .young boys and girls out having fun where some would cross the line and girls gave as good as the lads it was a time of women’s rights where we were equal in everything, PEOPLE harassing other people and people using POWER over people is always WRONG
@owen kirwan: wow so you want to be able to pat a woman’s body without her consent? I doubt it. Do you want to be able to pass a filthy remark to a woman on the street or work colleague? I doubt that too. Did you meet your current partner by touching her unwantedly, saying filthy things to her or slut shaming her in front of your friends? I definitely know the answer to that! Yet women have to put up with this crap all the time and you’re saying just shut up and get on with it, you’re hurting men’s chances. Well no. If men can understand consent, respect and no means no then they should have no problem finding a partner. Women have turned a corner and hopefully won’t be putting up with this crap anymore.
I get his initial point about fumbling teens. It is all about lines, there’s nothing wrong with a proposition or a suggestion or a gesture of a sexual nature if it doesn’t cross certain lines. Power, authority and strength and common good manners all come into it, also things like how drunk or incapacitated someone is. I’m glad to see people like these being called out for crossing those lines and I’m glad to see these lines being highlighted, but it’s wrong for commentators to suggest that all men are bxxsxxds because they have a sexual interest in the women around them. That’s a natural and ever present human characteristic (both sexes) whether it’s at work, school or out in the street. It’s just wrong to be inappropriate about it.
@owen kirwan: No, I don’t remember doing anything like that. Being young and foolish doesn’t excuse you from groping other people.
@Greg Blake: who is saying it’s all men? We are talking about specific men who behave in this manner. Where is the word “all” in my comment or anyone else’s?
@Dell: Some people seem to think saying that certain behaviour is unacceptable, will no longer be tolerated, & expecting this to be respected & adhered to is an affront to their self-determination. Maybe this conversation hits a little too close. Maybe they’ve engaged in behaviour that falls under sexual violence. Maybe they’ve been complicit in allowing others to behave in this manner. Maybe they’ve ignored or silenced victims. Maybe they’re a victim themselves. Or maybe they don’t want to recognise that males behave in ways that are detrimental to the physical, psychological, & mental well being of others. Because maybe then they’d have to do something. It’s much easier to peddle this is a man hating exercise – while ignoring the glaring irony of why this conversation is necessary.
Such upstanding moral people and to think they never knew or even heard a whisper before the witchhunt started.
@Deano Cracow: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
“Where a person decides to target another person for reasons which may, or may not, be obvious. It may be a work colleague who decides to undermine and belittle a co-worker, or it could be a person who makes it their objective to slander the reputation of a ‘friend’ or associate. Essentially, it is a targeted attack against one person, for reasons that are not necessarily tangible. Trying to find someone to target and humiliate.” https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Witch%20Hunt
A person being held accountable for thier behaviour does not constitute a witch hunt.
@Felicity Hensen: If you’re trying to prove to Deano that he doesn’t know what witchhunt means, then referencing one of Urban Dictionary’s seven different definitions isn’t exactly conclusive.
For example, Urban Dictionary’s second definition is…
“it is when a girl dresses like a witch and you f— her up the a– on a broom stick”
Assuming that’s not what either of you meant, then by your logic neither you or Deano knows what it means.
@Zozzy Zozimus: Does this source work better for you?
“an intensive effort to discover and expose disloyalty, subversion, dishonesty, or the like, usually based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence.” http://www.dictionary.com/browse/witch-hunt
My use of the urban dictionary definition was due to it being longer and more explanatory to show that witch hunts are conducted with little or no evidence and are usually done because someone feels aggrieved by another and wants to cause them harm. Witch hunt is a term I find distasteful to use when discussing victims of sexual violence.
@Felicity Hensen:
Alleged victims.
@Marco Pollo: Ah yes, we’re all conveniently “alledged” victims, given that the majority will never be able to secure a judicial conviction. Nice try at attempting to minimise the global pandemic of sexual violence.
@Felicity Hensen: dictionary.com seems a bit more credible. More importantly (from my perspective), that definition is closer to what I think people usually mean when they say witch hunt. However, I’m still not sure why you think Deano doesn’t understand what it means. Whether you agree with him or not, isn’t this definition exactly what he seems to mean?
@Zozzy Zozimus: Deano recognises Hollywood hypocrisy and double standards when he sees them. Deano is not talking about the events themselves but the reactions and distancing of people who would have been pretty three monkeyish if they had been previously unaware.
@Deano Cracow: That’s what Zozzy thought Deano meant.
@Deano Cracow: Deano should also recognise that people’s reactions & behaviour to sexual violence, be it ignoring the behaviour, being complicit in the behaviour, directly or indirectly silencing or intimidating victims who (want to) report the crimes, or continuing in the behviour, is not isolated to the situations Deano mentioned, as this behaviour is engaged in by people across the social spectrum. The people in the entertainment industry are of no higher moral authority or standard than any other person. The use of witch hunt implies that the person being spoken about is innocent & is instead the victim of an unwarranted and unsubstantiated attack. Furthermore, the use of the term in cases of sexual violence is crass and further aims to undermine the credibility of the victim/s.
The people who are coming forward are very brave. There are also a great number of people in the industry who thought sex for jobs was just part of the business and got on with it. Of course those people are going to find it very hard to come forward because the public will judge them very harshly. I personally think they’re victims also.
I find the way this event has been reported disturbing. ‘An attempted sexual advance’ vs attempted sexual assault. The event described by the young actor was that a man climbed on top of him which I would describe as an assault. A ‘ sexual advance’ reads as a much less threatening event.
This behaviour is rarely in isolation; “CNN said that in total eight people had spoken to it about Spacey’s alleged conduct. The news network said that the individuals, who were all former or current employees on the show, had done so on the condition of anonymity, fearing “professional repercussions” if they made their claims public.”
Kevin Spacey accused of sexual assault and harassment by House of Cards workers
McCarthyism is back with a bang. To hell with due process. Lets just do it the American way. Hang em high and then give him a fair trial.
Spacey didn’t do anything.
I didn’t believe I could get anymore cynical ,I am beginning to doubt even the Guards now.
People are so quick to point and accuse …should we not wait until there is real proof.. should this man be innocent his name and career are now over..
How ironic this guy stars in a show called House of cards it’s well and truly fell down around him now!
One of the greatest expressions of the last 100 years is, “virtue signalling”
this is just the start of the fall of Kevin spacey..
the revelations to come out of London alone will run for months….
also some of the top 5 directors in Hollywood are kacking themselves from what I hear…
have your say