As opening statements unfolded in Kevin Spacey’s sexual-abuse trial on October 6, accuser Anthony Rapp’s attorney urged jurors to focus on the allegations rather than their personal lives, while Spacey’s attorney tried to steer attention toward Rapp’s career, which she said peaked with his role in Rent.
“What happened to Anthony is something that never should have happened — something that was wrong and, quite frankly, unacceptable,” Rapp’s attorney, Peter Saghir, told jurors. The Star Trek: Discovery star sued Spacey in 2020, alleging Spacey had made an aggressive and unwanted sexual advance toward him at a party in 1986 when Rapp was a teenager. “The conduct here involved a 14-year-old boy and a 26-year-old man,” Saghir said. “That 14-year-old boy is Anthony Rapp, and that 26-year-old man is Kevin Spacey.”
“You’re going to learn that Mr. Rapp, for the majority of his life, has had relationships with men. You’re going to learn that Kevin Spacey too has had relationships with men,” Saghir said. “If you’re tempted to say that men who love each other are not deserving of justice, then we might as well pack our bags and go home right now.” Saghir continued by saying the alleged incident “has nothing to do with Mr. Rapp’s sexual orientation, nor Mr. Spacey’s sexual orientation. Whether it’s a 14-year-old boy or a 14-year-old girl should make no difference in this courtroom.” Saghir said jurors would also hear testimony from another Spacey accuser.
While it seems self-evident that an accuser’s gender or sexuality shouldn’t matter, Saghir’s discussion of this reflects both teams’ knowledge that homophobia and ignorance could impact at least some jurors’ views on the allegations regarding the two men, both of whom identify as gay. Prospective jurors were asked whether they had opinions of LGTBQ+ persons that could make them have unfair judgment. No potential juror said they harbored such opinions during jury selection, but anyone can claim they’re unbiased toward LGBTQ+ persons despite harboring bigoted opinions. Throw in the fact that it’s a celebrity trial, and the tendency to say — or not to say — something that could secure them a slot on the jury might be all the more tempting. Openings were an opportunity to tackle potential bias from the jump and focus on the facts.
Spacey’s lawyer, Jennifer Keller, cast Rapp as an embittered has-been repeating his allegations to virtually anyone who would listen but never going to the police. “When he’d see Kevin Spacey winning an Oscar, he’d become enraged. When he’d see him getting another Oscar, he’d become enraged. When he’d see him winning a Tony, he would be upset,” Keller said. “You’ll hear that he’s been telling this story for attention, for sympathy, and to raise his own profile. Because while Anthony Rapp has made a living as an actor, a working actor, which is not an easy thing to do, he never became the international star that Kevin Spacey is, who could play almost any role — comedic, dramatic, sang, danced. He has been simmering, simmering with resentment all of this time.”
“As Mr. Spacey’s star rose over the years, Mr. Rapp grew increasingly resentful. It turns out that Rent was the apex of Mr. Rapp’s career,” Keller told jurors. By early 2000, Keller said, Rapp had peaked: “He grew very, very bitter, and he blamed that on being an out gay actor.” Rapp saw Spacey as a “fraud” for living in the closet. “He felt there were things he could be doing for the gay community if he came out,” Keller continued.
Keller also focused on sex, claiming Rapp had “cheated on his boyfriend of many years after he went to that party — Mr. Spacey’s fault. He claimed to the doctor that he could no longer initiate sexual contact; that too is Kevin Spacey’s fault”
Spacey, wearing a slate suit, snow-white shirt, and powder-blue tie, did not appear worried at the downtown Manhattan courthouse on the first day of his trial. At various points during jury selection, he nodded and smiled at prospective jurors, sometimes turning to grin at those seated in the gallery behind him. His devil-may-care aura isn’t all that surprising: If Spacey loses, he will owe Rapp money, but the stakes are far higher for Spacey in London. There, he faces criminal charges with four counts of sexual assault and one count of “causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.” That trial is reportedly poised to start in June.
