Kevin Spacey Asks Judge to Toss Anthony Rapp's Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

Out Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey on Friday asked a judge to toss gay actor Anthony Rapp's sex abuse lawsuit. His lawyers told the judge that accusations that Spacey abused Rapp as a teenager during a party in the 1980s aren't true.

In court papers filed in Manhattan federal court, Spacey's lawyers said the abuse never happened, according to the Associated Press.

Rapp is known for his roles in Broadway's Rent and in the TV series Star Trek: Discovery.

He filed a lawsuit against Spacey in 2020 claiming that the actor, who was 26, "engaged in a sexual advance" by grabbing Rapp's buttocks and then laying himself over Rapp after pulling him onto a bed. Rapp, who was 14, says that he "was forced to extricate himself" before exiting the party.

Spacey's lawyers wrote in the court documents that there is no evidence that the contact was anything sexual and that Spacey only picked up the 14-year-old before Rapp "wiggled out."

Lawyers for Rapp did not respond to the AP's request for comment.

Rapp went public with his allegations in 2017, and he wasn't the only one to accuse Spacey of sexual abuse. Spacey released a statement at the time saying he didn't remember the encounter with Rapp but apologized.

Also in 2020, Spacey and his production companies were forced to pay about $30 million for breach of contract for violating the studio behind Netflix's House of Cards' sexual harassment policy.

The year before, a criminal case was dropped against Spacey stemming from an alleged indecent where Spacey allegedly groped an 18-year-old man at a Nantucket resort.