UPDATE with more testimonials. Actor Antoine Rapp detailed what he called an “alarming” episode of sexual coercion involving Kevin Spacey when Rapp was 14 to close the second day of testimony in a $40 million court case at the United States Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan.
For about an hour on the witness stand after a brief start earlier in the day, Rapp – a noted Broadway performer known for Lease and now also a series regular on Star Trek: Discovery on Paramount+ – described how he ended up in Spacey’s New York City apartment in the spring of 1986. What happened in that skyscraper helped spark a cascade of allegations against the Card castle star, who is also on trial in the UK in another sexual abuse case. Rapp gave his testimony about 30 feet from Spacey, who stared at him throughout his time at the stand.
Came to New York on a break from his Chicago-area high school to perform in a Broadway show precious son, which starred Judith Ivey and Ed Harris, Rapp described “soaking up” the cultural life of the city. Staying with his mother in a short-term rental apartment, he had “great freedom” to explore New York and connect with theater, he recalls. As a result, he thought nothing of it when Spacey, then a rising star on the scene in a revival of A long journey from day to night with Jack Lemmon, invited him to dinner, then introduced him and another teenage friend to Limelight, the then-legendary nightclub. Nothing special happened on that outing, Rapp said, but Spacey invited him over to his apartment a few days later for a party. Because precious son had closed and Rapp was still hungry for New York experiences, he approached but soon regretted it as the revelers were all much older and showed no interest in getting to know him.
After the other guests left, Rapp said, Spacey walked into a part of the apartment with a bed, where Rapp had been watching TV alone. He picked up Rapp – who estimated he was around 5ft 5in and 100lbs – and cradled him “like a groom holds a bride over a threshold”. Spacey, who appeared unsteady and “glassy-eyed” to Rapp, then lay on top of Rapp, trapping him and pressing his groin against the side of the 14-year-old’s hip.
“I knew something was wrong,” Rapp said. “I felt like I had to get out of there. What I also felt was frozen. Even after Rapp “managed to get out from under him,” Rapp said, Spacey then blocked his exit at the door, pointedly asking, “Are you sure you want to leave?” After another long moment, the teenager managed to get out.
When asked why he didn’t tell anything about what happened to his mother or the authorities, Rapp said it was complicated. He had yet to come out as gay and didn’t like talking about “any kind of sex” with his mother. Going to New York was also such an exhilarating professional adventure that he didn’t want to deprive himself of future opportunities.
Spacey will speak next week in his own defense. His legal team sought to cast doubt on Rapp’s claims by noting that Rapp had offered an inaccurate drawing of Spacey’s apartment during a 2021 deposition, describing him as having a separate studio as he walked away. acted from a studio.
PREVIOUSLY:
Actor Anthony Rapp began testifying today in his sexual misconduct trial against Kevin Spacey, with initial questioning focusing only on his upbringing in suburban Chicago before the court took a lunch break.
Rapp’s post-lunch testimony is expected to explore much more volatile territory, with the actor accusing Spacey of fondling and trapping him in a New York apartment in 1986 when Rapp was 14. After going public with his claims in October 2017, Rapp filed his $40 million lawsuit in United States District Court in Manhattan. Spacey is also expected to testify in his own defense. Rapp, the younger brother of playwright and producer Adam Rapp, is a longtime Broadway presence who starred in Lease and more recently appeared on Star Trek: Discovery.
Rapp’s allegations were among several that made Spacey one of the first figures of ignominy in the #MeToo movement, although legal proceedings are still ongoing. He faces trial in the UK for alleged sexual assault, with that case scheduled for June 2023 and he is on the hook for $31million awarded to Card castle producers Media Rights Capital because the claims precipitated the end of the show and were deemed a violation of his acting and producer agreements.
Spacey is expected to testify in his own defense at the New York trial.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has steered a tight ship since the trial began yesterday, repeatedly urging attorneys on both sides to ignore superfluous or duplicate material. He also interrupted a witness, Christopher Denny, as he tried to work out an answer. “It’s not a developmental question,” the judge chided him, urging him instead to stick to “yes” or “no.”
Rapp detailed a working-class childhood in Joliet, Illinois, where he was raised solely by his mother, a nurse who divorced his father when Rapp was 2. He described with a wistful smile spending time with his friends, a “crew crew of nerds” who played Dungeons & Dragons and created their own magazines. He began acting in plays and musicals in seventh grade, playing the lead role in a production of Olivier.
Three witnesses were introduced in the morning proceedings before Rapp took the stand. Among them was Andy Holtzman, who described an alleged assault by Spacey in 1981, which occurred while Holtzman was working for the Public Theater film program and Spacey was starring in the public-supported summer production of Shakespeare. . Henry IV Part I.
Holtzman repeated the allegations he first made in 2017, in a Facebook post visible to his connections on the social network. He claimed that Spacey walked into an office where Holtzman worked and approached him without saying a word. Wearing “very tight jeans,” he had a “clear, wide erection,” Holtzman said. Spacey then “lifted me up by the crotch,” put him on a desk, and rubbed his body against Holtzman’s.
With Judge Kaplan supporting many of the defense team’s objections, Spacey’s attorneys sought to poke holes in Holtzman’s account, including his claim that he immediately recognized the actor from the program documents. Given that he was a struggling unknown actor in 1981, the defense noted that was unlikely. When the pages of the summer 1981 program are displayed for Henry IVHoltzman conceded that Spacey’s photo was not included.
Spacey’s side also asked Holtzman why he didn’t go public with his allegations in 1981, especially given his testimony that Public Theater chief Joseph Papp, a titan of new culture and society -Yorkoise, treated him like a son. “I kept it to myself for a long time, trying to process it,” Holtzman explained. “As Spacey’s star rose, it kept coming back to my face,” the earthquake of the #MeToo movement providing further encouragement to finally get his story out.
Dominic Patten contributed to this report.