On Sunday night, BuzzFeed released a shocking and disturbing account from actor Anthony Rapp, in which the Star Trek: Discovery star alleged that two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey made a sexual advance toward him in 1986. At the time, Spacey was 26 years old—and Rapp was 14.

The two actors were both appearing on Broadway at the time—Rapp in George Furth's Precious Sons, Spacey in Edward Albee's Long Day's Journey Into Night—and the alleged encounter took place at a party hosted by Spacey at his apartment. Rapp remembers being the only non-adult in attendance; bored, the young actor left to watch TV in Spacey's bedroom; later, Spacey appeared in his bedroom and, according to Rapp's account, picked the 14-year-old up "like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold" and then laid on top of him on his bed.

"He was trying to seduce me ... I don't know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually," Rapp alleges.

At the time of publication, BuzzFeed reported that Spacey declined numerous requests for comment. At midnight, hours after the BuzzFeed report was published, Spacey made a statement on Twitter, saying he did not remember the 1986 encounter with Rapp—but he did publicly acknowledge that he is gay for the first time.

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Rapp's allegations come fresh on the heels of numerous allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Harvey Weinstein and director James Toback (as well as leading figures in other industries). Rapp's account, however, is particularly disturbing because of his age at the time. Spacey's statement is also suspect, as he does not exactly deny Rapp's allegation, but he uses his sexuality in an attempt to soften the blow of the Rapp's claims that the older actor sexually assaulted him when he was a teenager.

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Anthony Rapp

Spacey's sexuality has been sort of an open secret in Hollywood for a long time—so much so that he joked about it himself twice during the 2017 Tony Awards, which he hosted. (A 1997 Esquire cover story about the Oscar winner ran with the headline, "Kevin Spacey Has a Secret.") Spacey has long avoided talking about his sexuality publicly, as he references in his public apology to Rapp: "I know that there are stories out there about me and that some have been fuelled by the fact that I have been so protective of my privacy," he wrote before admitting that he currently "chooses" to live life as a gay man. "I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behaviour."

That Spacey has finally publicly acknowledged his sexuality is one thing, but the timing—and the reason—for his coming out has sparked additional outrage following Rapp's account of their encounter.

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Anthony Rapp in the cast of \'Precious Sons\

That Spacey is gay has nothing to do with his alleged sexual misconduct against a minor, which the actor describes as "inappropriate drunken behaviour;" it would be unwise to conflate the two, and doing so would be like asserting anyone with a drinking problem would somehow find it appropriate to make sexual advances toward a teenager (or that homosexuality is equivalent to alcoholism in the first place). Spacey's misguided statement only gives fuel to anti-LGBT activists, who have long used fear-mongering tactics invoking pedophilia as ammunition against queer people, particularly gay men.

Yet Spacey was not thinking of the LGBT community at all—just as he has refused to do for years when brushing off questions about his sexuality. He had numerous chances to acknowledge a basic fact of his personal life—as he has, according to his statement, with friends and family (and likely professional colleagues who encounter him socially at events). That he chooses to do so now is awkward at best and horrendously irresponsible at worst; his attempt to soften the blow of an allegation of sexual misconduct with the revelation that he is gay feels nothing more than a reframing of the narrative to protect the actor against a homophobic witch hunt.

The actor is not the victim of such, however; in fact, the brunt of Rapp's allegations are not that Spacey is gay, but that he allegedly propositioned him when he was a minor—an abhorrent offense no matter the perpetrator's sexuality, and one that has little to do with Spacey's identity as a gay man at all.

There's an absurdity in responding to allegations of a sexual misconduct by passing it off as a drunken encounter and using it to come out of the closet. Yet the latter is the focus of many headlines this morning, proving that Spacey's team has already successfully taken control of the narrative and shifted its focus. Do not fall for this. Spacey admits he does not remember the encounter between himself and Rapp, which took place 31 years ago. But the alleged event is still enough to force the actor, according to his statement, "to deal with this honestly and openly" and begin "examining my own behaviour."

The details of Rapp's allegations are shocking; the personal emotional aftershocks the actor experienced for years are heartbreaking. He is the true victim in this story: a man who has for years struggled with an encounter with an adult that left him with a trauma he had to face repeatedly and privately. Spacey, no doubt, has had his own share of private struggles, as referenced by his public statement and apology. But Spacey's sexuality and alleged behaviour are not only two separate issues that have nothing to do with each other—they also do not make him a victim in any way. And it is a true indignity that this is the way in which Spacey has publicly acknowledged his sexuality: not because of pride or celebration, but because of stigma and shame.

From: Esquire US