Now it’s Kevin Spacey
Actor Kevin Spacey has now been accused of molesting (or attempting to molest) actor Anthony Rapp 30 years ago, when the latter was 14 and Spacey 26. Here’s the situation:
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Rapp said Spacey picked him up, put him on his bed and “was trying to get with me sexually” in 1986. Spacey was 26 at the time.
In response to the allegations, Spacey tweeted that he was “beyond horrified to hear [Rapp’s] story.”
Spacey tweeted: “I honestly do not remember the encounter, 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 describes having carried with him all these years.”
Spacey, who has been famously private about his personal life, said that he now lives as a gay man — which marked the first time the actor has made a public statement about his sexual orientation.
“This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life,” Spacey said in his tweet. He continued that he has had “relationships with both men and women,” and added, “I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.”.
This is a very problematic story on a lot of levels, and the LGBT community is understandably upset at the timing of Spacey’s coming out. It perpetuates the idea that gay men are more likely to seduce underage boys, for example, and is seen as an attempt to deflect attention from Rapp’s charge to the topic of Spacey’s long-debated sexual orientation.
The situation is a mess. Although Rapp’s story is impossible to substantiate, it has the ring of truth to me and although I would not convict Spacey on such evidence, I believe it occurred much as Rapp describes (including the fact that Spacey was drunk at the time, which does not excuse him).
The question of whether gay people are more likely to molest children is a third rail, and I’ve tried many times to get an idea of what the truth is about it. The best I’ve been able to do is to say that the vast majority of gay people (like the vast majority of heterosexual people) are not pedophiles and do not pursue children, but some subset of gay people (like some subset of heterosexual people) are pedophiles—or, in the case of gay people and Rapp’s allegations, hebephiles, who are attracted to post-pubescent teenagers who have not reached the age of majority.
Last February I wrote a lengthy post on child-molestation and teenage-molestation in the gay community and elsewhere, in which I said this:
I deplore sexual abuse of children and teenagers, and there’s plenty of blame to go around about such both in the gay world and in the heterosexual world. I’ve done a lot of reading on the question of whether gay adults are more likely to be child molesters than straight adults…and in my opinion the jury is still out on that. If you want to read about the question in depth, I suggest this article for the “yes, they are more likely” side, and this article for the “no, they’re not more likely” side.
Spacey is probably the tip of a very large iceberg of child actor molestation—or attempts at molestation—in the theater and the movies.
One of the more subtly disturbing parts about the Spacey story can be seen if you look at Rapp’s more detailed description of what happened:
Rapp, an actor with a long Broadway career who is now a regular on the TV series “Star Trek: Discovery,” was a child actor in 1986 when he says he met Spacey. They were both performing on Broadway shows, he told Buzzfeed. They met at a post-show gathering and Spacey invited him to a party at his Manhattan apartment that was happening a few days later.
Rapp attended the party alone, but got bored because everyone else there was an adult, and he did not know anyone. He told Buzzfeed he went into a bedroom and watched TV past midnight. Rapp said he realized that the other guests had left the party when Spacey appeared at the doorway and approached him.
Rapp said his initial impression when Spacey came in the room was that he was drunk.
“He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. But I don’t, like, squirm away initially, because I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then he lays down on top of me.”
“He was trying to seduce me,” Rapp told the website. “I don’t know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.” He said he felt Spacey “pressing into me” and “tightening his arms.”
Rapp said he was able to “squirm” away and left the apartment.
So in addition to the obviously disturbing part (the molestation or attempted molestation of a minor), what was the “subtly disturbing” part to which I referred? You may or may not have noticed it, but it was the fact that a fourteen-year-old was at a party like this, unescorted, in the first place. This was no cast party; it was an adult party at Spacey’s apartment, with drinking. What was going on with Rapp’s parents? Were they unaware of this, or did they not think Rapp would be at risk in attending such a venue? It wasn’t as though Spacey was an old and trusted family friend, either (not that it would be okay to go alone to an adult party even under those circumstances). He was just an actor Rapp had met.
You wanted to know what happened to hollywood..
well, if you think that the actors and such were the ones willing to be deviates to succeed and the dems maching protected earners who donated heavily… you have a formula for over emphasis in deviancy as a NORM within the melieu… within their circle, they long lost the boundaries that the rest of the world has and is healthy for it.
its that simple: the good people left and were not there, the bad or open or willing, stayed. their morals were lowered and changed and eventually they all lived in a pool full of the same stink they could not smell any more..
now that machine is grown enough that its existence and behavior is turning off the polity
Only a few crazy people like Ymar were talking about Hollywood pedos and rapists before Polanski.
You all haven’t even heard the worst yet…
Remember that whole Satanic ritual child abuse going on?
Heh, they covered up that one pretty well, but DC and Hollywood are connected to it. Let’s try to see who exposes that one. My bet will be on the Holy Ghost, not you humans though.
He was just an actor Rapp had met.
Remember that Isle la Vista shooter? His parents were Hollywood pimps and whores. His father had a whole slew of girls and prostitutes that sold their bodies for fame and wealth.
Many people, including the parents, in Hollywood are pimps. They sell out their children for connections. It is “natural”.
They are the lucky ones. The ones that get sold to Satanic ritual sacrifice cults, usually aren’t ever seen again.
” This was no cast party; it was an adult party at Spacey’s apartment, with drinking. What was going on with Rapp’s parents? Were they unaware of this, or did they not think Rapp would be at risk in attending such a venue? ”
See Polanski, Roman.
Parents only want what is best for their children in Hollywood. What’s a molestation or two when all the glittering prizes wait just beyond the bedroom door. So do the ambitious young in Hollywood.
“He told Buzzfeed he went into a bedroom and watched TV past midnight. Rapp said he realized that the other guests had left the party when Spacey appeared at the doorway and approached him.”
vanderleun:
My questions were somewhat rhetorical. I’m aware of what pushy parents are willing to expose their children to.
However, two things: in this case it was the NY theater scene, not Hollywood. Not that it matters much. Plus, I’m really not sure what Rapp’s parents knew. For example, did he actually tell them where he was going? Maybe he said he was going to a friend’s house, a fellow teenager, for example.
Here’s what Rapp said about going to the party alone:
An article on a memoir Rapp published in 2006 has this about his mother:
From the outside, it may seem unlikely that two successful artists could emerge from an average single-parent household in Joliet, Ill.
Thats a hat tip to marx..
the marxist idea that your environment makes you was slipped in, rather than you make you. Which explains things better than the environment… much better… because the environment has no way to explain such exceptions other than “surprise”.
have grown up in an inner city slum area of not too good reputation, this was the oddity that chased me, because of the same. but my success (though only slightly famous and not in what i really want to do), was because I worked so hard and had a autodidactic drive (like Ramanujan) – and still do, which is why people dont believe i know or do what i do, despite photos, examples, etc… (and why unless i quit and go in field nothing i do gets looked at much – because those that could do are too busy with their own, and blocking others (including you) and those that cant, can say nice, but thats about it, and thats that)
the funny thing is that these ideas also cant explain things like perfect pitch, stupendous memory of some autistic, autodidactism vs doesnt want to learn, resourcefulness vs stumped, etc…
great people from broken homes and broken people from great homes, both exist in high enough numbers that environment generally can be ruled out – other than a tenant of marx that cant change or else marx changes into something else (and its everything else that has to change. think of marx in the form of the immovable object in a world it conceived that everything else is less than an irresistible force)
just noticing…
Ann:
Yes, it was a different era—but not in the way Rapp says. Or only partly in that way.
I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and by the 80s I was an adult (and a parent). So I remember all those eras.
I was riding the subway by myself at the age of 10. To the Times Square stop (for ballet lessons) I might add. I often rode it home at night (not late at night, but 7:30 or 8 at night. It actually did feel somewhat dangerous, too–there were a number of incidents, none of which I told my family. Let me add that at the age of 10 I looked about 20. However, it was not unusual for children of that age to ride the subway. And in the part of New York where I lived (a relatively safe part) it was common for kids to do things on their own.
But to attend an adult party at 14, alone, at some guy’s apartment, with drinking? I never heard of any parent allowing their child to do that back then. Also, by the late 80s (when the Rapp incident occurred), child abuse had become a big big BIG deal. The daycare child abuse scandals and allegations had already broken, for example, There was actually a great deal of paranoia and fear at the time.
In addition, a few of the Catholic Church stories had started to come out prior to the Rapp/Spacey incident (see this).
Rapp was so young at the time that he probably doesn’t remember the time frame. But he is mixing apples and oranges here.
First Cynthia Nixon and now Kevin Spacey have proclaimed, “I choose a gay relationship.” Ms. Nixon had the audacity to say that she could have been just as happy in a heterosexual marriage.
Why can’t these two stick to the authorized narrative??
TommyJay:
There are two narratives. One says that bisexual people don’t exist and are just a cover for being gay. The other says that there are truly bisexual people who do have a choice.
I subscribe to the second theory. I believe that some people are 100% gay and some 100% heterosexual, but that there are also truly bisexual people who can go either way, although they tend to lean somewhat one way or another.
Totally agree with you, Neo, about Rapp and that “it was a different era” thing. He also says in that article that he “looked younger than 14” then, which would have made his mother even more protective than usual, one would think.
For a different take check out ann barnhardt.biz
not for the squemish….
Etan Paltz (the 6 year old NY missing boy back in the 70s) was permitted to take himself to school. Yikes ! Sad mistake on the part of his parents, there is no *do over* & Etan paid the price. Some parents are totally the opposite of helicopter parents. There needs to be a middle of the road & even there good and bad can happen.
Iowahawk today on twitter:
COP: Why did you drive your car into the liquor store again?
MAN: From this moment on I choose to live my life as a gay man!
hebephiles is this not the same as pederasty? btw you can put that term into a search engine that gives you the option for pictures & see lots of ancient greek pottery with depictions of same. Pedophilia is more accurately young prepubescent children even babies !!! The current gay dynamic has abandoned the term pederasty, & uses pedophilia
Molly NH:
It wasn’t really that way. His parents were not negligent or even unprotective, in my opinion. They were actually quite protective, and what happened to him happened during a tiny tiny window of opportunity. It is very very tragic:
Every single parent has to decide when to start letting go, when to start training a child for independence. It’s a very difficult judgement call. There is no perfectly clear way to do it. Some things are obviously out of the question. Some are clearly overprotective. But there’s a huge gray area in-between.
Molly NH:
The term “pederasty” refers to adult men and teenage boys. It can never refer to girls; it is purely homosexual (male) in nature. The term “hebephilia,” on the other hand, refers to attraction of an adult to underage teenagers, but is not limited to same-sex relationships. For example, Lolita.
I didn t consider Etans parents negligent , IMO it was poor judgement on their part, even the most precocious 6 yr old in NYC, with no adult holding his hand, I can t get my mind around that.
Too bad the mom didn t follow him from afar.
arfldgrs Says:
October 30th, 2017 at 4:37 pm
You wanted to know what happened to hollywood..
..
its that simple: the good people left and were not there,
* * *
I fear that has happened in a lot of our institutions: government, academia, even the fine arts — not that there are NO good people there, but they are outnumbered and outmaneuvered (derided and dismissed) by the others.
Artfldgr Says:
October 30th, 2017 at 6:28 pm
From the outside, it may seem unlikely that two successful artists could emerge from an average single-parent household in Joliet, Ill.
….
great people from broken homes and broken people from great homes, both exist in high enough numbers that environment generally can be ruled out
* * *
The observation is true, but the conclusion is perhaps too broad. Environment acting on innate personality and other characteristics can make for different behaviors.
However, the studies on the statistical impact of environment on outcomes (e.g., the effect on most children of being raised in single-parent lower-income situations) is quite clear that it cannot be ruled out as a factor.
For those in such unfortunate situations, the environment also can include uncommonly strong parents or grandparents who act as a countervailing influence (e.g., Clarence Thomas).
This is a can of worms that I venture into with some trepidation. On the one hand Spacey obviously crossed the line, first by inviting a teenager to a party at his home with only other adults as guests and where alcohol was served, and second by coming on to a 14 year old boy. No excuse on both counts and it should end there. On the other hand, this was no ordinary 14 year old. He was very much beyond his years acting in a NY theater production in which the actor playing his father collapses on top of him during one of the scenes. It stretches credulity to believe that a 14 year old boy wouldn’t know what he was doing by placing himself in Spacey’s bedroom to “watch TV” and lose track of time, especially a 14 year old gay boy. Come on. By 14 I knew very well what I was attracted to, as did Rapp. That he wasn’t quite ready to go the full monty doesn’t absolve him. He was making himself available.
There was no crime here. No force was used, and nothing happened. By making this non-event public 30 years after the fact, Rapp gets a moment of publicity and can play the victim card. Unless other verifiable instances of real molestation surface in regard to Spacey, something has been made public which will forever tarnish an otherwise talented actor’s reputation.
Rosie o d onelle has called for others to come forward. Does she know something ??
I saw Netflix canned House of Cards over this. Too bad, really, since it was actually a very fine drama.
I need to amend what I posted above about Spacey not committing a crime. It was technically an attempted molestation of a 14 year old boy by a drunk actor 12 years the boy’s senior. Spacey could have been charged with a crime.
I guess what bothered me about this sordid little story is that it is one of many with the broader and cumulative effect of destroying another one of our institutions. The image of all actors and of Hollywood is under attack, and maybe rightly so considering what is being exposed. Those of us on the right can rub our hands and smile as the liberal scum get theirs, especially since they are tearing themselves apart.
Every one of our institutions is getting blown apart. Jefferson and the founders were slave holders. Tear down their statues and destroy their memories. Ditto the Civil War generals and Teddy Roosevelt. Take a knee when the national anthem is played and destroy the institution of football and sports. Now the fantasy of Hollywood is in the cross hairs. It’s all part of the same sick radical orgy of destruction.
Art imitates life: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil
Perhaps the Hollywood elite will finally get off their high horse and stop badgering us deplorables to become “better” people?
TOS – Since HWood is a cesspool of depravity (and has been for a long time) AND has been an active participant in the culture wars against all that is good and decent, I in no way consider them a “cultural institution”.
While I’m no sports fan, and am certainly well aware of the failings of many an athlete, I do consider our sporting world to be a cultural institution.
But Hollywood? Enemy combatants.
Julia:
What you say is the flip side of the left’s attacks. Hollywood, for all its catering to the lowest elements in our society still produces works of art of the highest caliber. Movies like Sense and Sensibility or American Sniper certainly aren’t trash. No one forces you to buy a ticket or compels you to watch the other stuff.
You don’t have to talk about “gay people” with regard to “child” molestation; as that, as you note, makes the categories difficult to untangle.
A focus on the pathology of homosexual males would probably be more productive.
And in that instance there is data which applies at least to one particular subgroup of homosexual males: homosexuals who have managed to become Catholic priests.
The famous John Jay report in its early version noted that 87 percent of the molestation of youth by priests was the molestation of post pubescent males by homosexuals.
I don’t think that this is a shock to anyone who has had the experience of reading what homosexual males have themselves said, or reported about their own interests. From “Death in Venice” to that vile miscreant and reprobate Gore Vidal, the focus of their tastes has been plain.
OMG – Kevin Spacey is GAY. He’ll never work in Hollywood again!
Well, if his failed leap for fabulousity in that crushingly embarrassing Bobby Darren movie didn’t manage to kill his career “Look at me! I can fly! I can fly!!!” … it’s not likely that his fellow perverts will stop hiring him just because he shares their grave moral disorder.
Anyway, I thought he was already dead. Killed by Jude Law … or something.
In the meantime Jude Law is busy cleansing the temple – or the Vatican – in movie land. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6NnXF-L9c0
OOPS … Darin …
He’s been dead so long his name got shorter.
I’ve been wondering if there’s any sort of “save yourself for marriage” philosophy among homosexuals (male or female). If there isn’t, or if it is minimal, that would highlight one facet where homosexual behavior and heterosexual behaviors differ.
Every one of our institutions is getting blown apart.
It is going as planned. Nothing to worry about.
Before this war is over, Americans will be lucky to have one stone left on top of another.
Bonus points if you know what temple that reference was for.
People are gleefully rubbing their hands watching Hollywood self destruct? Don’t underestimate the power of evil. It’s like people think a minor thing like child hunters in the Vatican was going to destroy the Vatican. That’s not how it works.
Those people gleefully rubbing their hands might want to consider their own moral guilt, after having spent how much on Hollywood movies and entertainment? Money went to a good cause though. If you consider child hunters endangered and a good cause… well maybe rapists are more Normal and your Cup of Tea.
“Bonus points if you know what temple that reference was for.”
The Boreman Tabernacle?
Tammy Bruce had a chapter in one of her books about the problem of hebephilia among gay men (IIRC, it was specifically about the priest issue), and how the gay community needed to get on board with dealing with its culture because it was completely unfair to blame either Catholicism or its clergy’s vow of celibacy for the abuses of the young, when in such large part those abuses were ordinary run-of-the-mill “gay man teaches teen the ropes” situations so storied in ancient Greece.
A friend of mine was a victim of this very thing, though not with a priest; my friend was fatherless and vulnerable, and he was led down that particular primrose path as a boy of 15 by a man of 50 who clearly – by his actions – never thought he was doing anything wrong. The man bought my friend things, mentored him in various ways, and spent time with him doing non-sexual activities, as if he were a father figure or something, in between when he was urging and pressuring my friend into giving and receiving sexual acts. My friend, however, perceived the “relationship” purely as abuse, though as abuse that he himself “deserved” – just the way so many kids perceive that they deserve what they get at the hands of unscrupulous adults. So even though this was hebephilia, my friend was an abused kid.
Jamie Says:
November 2nd, 2017 at 12:13 am
The Vatican were told as early as School of Darkness 1930 era that the Left had infiltrated thousands into seminary schools, which produce priests and theologians.
These priests weren’t necessarily all gay, but being Leftsts, would have invited in more gaystapo priests and they would have created a Lavender mafia to protect each other using ecclesiastical discipline.
http://biblehub.com/mark/13-2.htm
There might be an older source for that line. That temple was destroyed by Titus, although I think Titus actually ordered it to be saved but the Romans got a little bit too crazy and melted the temple. Then the gold seeped into the stones, and they took down all the stones looking for gold.