Since Anthony Rapp went public with his allegations of sexual misconduct against Kevin Spacey earlier this week, a flood of others have come forward with similar stories. Now, eight current and former employees of Spacey's hit Netflix series House of Cards have spoken out against the actor's behaviour, and one former employee has accused Spacey of sexual assault.
Netflix had announced that the sixth season of the Spacey-starring House of Cards would be its final season earlier this week, but then revealed production of the show had completely come to a halt.
Now speaking to CNN, the workers (who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of professional repercussions) described Spacey's behaviour on the House of Cards set as "predatory," highlighting instances of non-consensual touching and crude comments — particularly targeting young male staffers.
The production assistant accusing Spacey of sexual assault claimed that while he was in a car with Spacey a few minutes away from the set, the actor (who was driving) put his hands down the production assistant's pants.
"I was in a state of shock," the anonymous staffer said. "He was a man in a very powerful position on the show and I was someone very low on the totem pole and on the food chain there."
He asked that CNN refrain from describing what happened next in the car, so as protect his identity. When the pair arrived at the set, however, the production assistant helped Spacey carry belongings from his car to his trailer, where Spacey cornered him and "made inappropriate contact with him." When the staffer told Spacey he wasn't comfortable with the situation, he said Spacey became "visibly flustered" and left the set for the rest of the day.
Prior to the incident in the car, the production assistant had complained to a supervisor that Spacey was sexually harassing him. As a result, precautions were put in place to ensure that Spacey and the staffer were never left alone together on set. The production assistant said that the harassment stopped for long enough that he felt okay about driving to the set with Spacey.
"I have no doubt that this type of predatory behaviour was routine for him and that my experience was one of many and that Kevin had few if any qualms about exploiting his status and position," the production assistant said. "It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors."
A number of other employees also claimed that Spacey created a toxic workplace environment with his disturbing pattern of sexual harassment.
"He would put his hands on me in weird ways," one crew member who worked on all six seasons said. "He would come in and massage my shoulders from behind or put his hands around me or touch my stomach sometimes in weird ways that in normal everyday conversation would not be appropriate."
A former camera assistant said that while he was never harassed by Spacey, the actor's inappropriate behaviour often took place in public. He claimed that "everybody saw," and that crew members often commented on Spacey's behaviour, but didn't complain out of fear of losing their jobs.
A former female production assistant who worked on multiple seasons of House of Cards said that she saw Spacey inappropriately touching male employees on set. She said Spacey would initiate play fighting and that he would "say hello, greet them, shake their hand and pull their hand down to his crotch and touch their crotch." She also said that Spacey had reached up the shorts of some of her male co-workers.
One other former crew member also detailed the type of sexual comments that Spacey would make on the set. He said that he once saw a grip bend over to pick something up and Spacey remarked that he had a "nice ass."
Spacey responded to Rapp's initial allegations, saying that he didn't remember the encounter and offered an apology. In it, he also came out publicly for the first time, acknowledging, "I choose now to live as a gay man."
Robert Cavazos, Tony Montana and a third actor, who wished to remain anonymous, also shared similar instances of unwanted sexual advances from the actor on Wednesday (November 1).
After they came forward, a rep for Spacey issued a statement that read: "Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment. No other information is available at this time."
That same rep has since announced that Spacey has been dropped by the Creative Artists Agency.
Netflix had announced that the sixth season of the Spacey-starring House of Cards would be its final season earlier this week, but then revealed production of the show had completely come to a halt.
Now speaking to CNN, the workers (who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of professional repercussions) described Spacey's behaviour on the House of Cards set as "predatory," highlighting instances of non-consensual touching and crude comments — particularly targeting young male staffers.
The production assistant accusing Spacey of sexual assault claimed that while he was in a car with Spacey a few minutes away from the set, the actor (who was driving) put his hands down the production assistant's pants.
"I was in a state of shock," the anonymous staffer said. "He was a man in a very powerful position on the show and I was someone very low on the totem pole and on the food chain there."
He asked that CNN refrain from describing what happened next in the car, so as protect his identity. When the pair arrived at the set, however, the production assistant helped Spacey carry belongings from his car to his trailer, where Spacey cornered him and "made inappropriate contact with him." When the staffer told Spacey he wasn't comfortable with the situation, he said Spacey became "visibly flustered" and left the set for the rest of the day.
Prior to the incident in the car, the production assistant had complained to a supervisor that Spacey was sexually harassing him. As a result, precautions were put in place to ensure that Spacey and the staffer were never left alone together on set. The production assistant said that the harassment stopped for long enough that he felt okay about driving to the set with Spacey.
"I have no doubt that this type of predatory behaviour was routine for him and that my experience was one of many and that Kevin had few if any qualms about exploiting his status and position," the production assistant said. "It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors."
A number of other employees also claimed that Spacey created a toxic workplace environment with his disturbing pattern of sexual harassment.
"He would put his hands on me in weird ways," one crew member who worked on all six seasons said. "He would come in and massage my shoulders from behind or put his hands around me or touch my stomach sometimes in weird ways that in normal everyday conversation would not be appropriate."
A former camera assistant said that while he was never harassed by Spacey, the actor's inappropriate behaviour often took place in public. He claimed that "everybody saw," and that crew members often commented on Spacey's behaviour, but didn't complain out of fear of losing their jobs.
A former female production assistant who worked on multiple seasons of House of Cards said that she saw Spacey inappropriately touching male employees on set. She said Spacey would initiate play fighting and that he would "say hello, greet them, shake their hand and pull their hand down to his crotch and touch their crotch." She also said that Spacey had reached up the shorts of some of her male co-workers.
One other former crew member also detailed the type of sexual comments that Spacey would make on the set. He said that he once saw a grip bend over to pick something up and Spacey remarked that he had a "nice ass."
Spacey responded to Rapp's initial allegations, saying that he didn't remember the encounter and offered an apology. In it, he also came out publicly for the first time, acknowledging, "I choose now to live as a gay man."
Robert Cavazos, Tony Montana and a third actor, who wished to remain anonymous, also shared similar instances of unwanted sexual advances from the actor on Wednesday (November 1).
After they came forward, a rep for Spacey issued a statement that read: "Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment. No other information is available at this time."
That same rep has since announced that Spacey has been dropped by the Creative Artists Agency.
