Kevin Spacey Trial: Anthony Rapp Sets the Record Straight on Reason He Came Forward With Allegation

Anthony Rapp has taken the stand.

The Rent actor testified during the Oct. 11 during Kevin Spacey's sexual misconduct trial, where he set the record straight on the reason he decided to come forward with allegations against the actor, per NBC News.

Back in 2017, Rapp accused Spacey of acting in a sexually inappropriate manner around him when Rapp was 14 years old. During the 2022 trial, Rapp's lawyer said that the actor was moved to bring the allegation to a BuzzFeed News reporter after Rapp was exposed to an article where Lupita Nyong'o made a sexual harassment allegation against Harvey Weinstein. Harvey has denied all allegations of misconduct.

However, Spacey's attorneys brought forth a screenshot of a text message conversation between Rapp and a BuzzFeed News reporter, which, as NBC News reports, seemingly revealed that Rapp had come forward with this allegation on Oct. 11 2017, eight days before the piece involving Nyong'o and Weinstein was published on Oct. 19, 2017.

Per NBC News, Rapp wrote in the text message chain, "I am wanting to speak out about someone else very powerful in the industry."

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During cross-examination in the trial, Rapp said that his publicly-stated reasoning of being inspired by the piece involving Nyong'o was "not true."

Rapp's 2017 allegation against Spacey was published by BuzzFeed News in October 2017. In the article, Rapp alleged that Spacey, then 26 years old, had invited Rapp to a party at his place back in 1986. Rapp alleges that at the time, Spacey put his body on top of Rapp's in a sexual manner at the gathering, which he also testified about on Oct. 11.

On the stand, Rapp said it was difficult to watch Spacey's fame rise over the years. According to The New York Times, he shared in court, "As his name and notoriety increased, it was harder and harder to escape."

Following the 2017 piece, Spacey issued a public statement to Twitter.

"I am beyond horrified to hear his story," Spacey wrote at the time. "I honestly do not remember the encounter as it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave then as he describes I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior and I am sorry for the feelings he described having carried with him all these years."

Spacey's sexual misconduct trial comes after the actor was formally charged with four counts of sexual assault against three men in the United Kingdom back in May. During his June 16 court appearance at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Spacey was granted unconditional bail. According to NPR, Spacey pled not guilty to these charges during a July 14 court appearance.

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