As more accusers come forward with allegations of sexual harassment from Kevin Spacey, producers of his Netflix series House of Cards are admitting that the actor was once investigated due to an “incident” that took place on the set during the show’s first season.
The admission comes after a CNN report in which several House of Cards crew members accused Spacey of aggressive sexual behaviour directed toward young men working on the set of the Netflix hit.
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“I was in a state of shock,” a former House of Cards production assistant told CNN after claiming Spacey stuck his hand down the crew member’s pants. “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.”
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He added: “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. It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors.”
Another crew member alleged that Spacey “would put his hands on me in weird ways. 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.”
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Media Rights Capital (MRC), which produces the drama for Netflix, issued a statement revealing that a crew member complained about Spacey’s behaviour back in the show’s first season but claimed that steps had been taken.
“During our first year of production in 2012, someone on the crew shared a complaint about a specific remark and gesture made by Kevin Spacey,” said MRC in a statement to Deadline. “Immediate action was taken following our review of the situation and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved.”
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Netflix has issued a statement claiming the streaming service had been made aware of that single incident but “is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set.”
However, MRC is addressing the issue by setting up an “anonymous complaint hotline, crisis counselors and sexual harassment legal advisors for the crew” in order to address any new allegations.
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“MRC will continue to thoroughly investigate all current claims and any new claims that are formally brought to our attention,” MRC’s statement added .
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Spacey has been dropped by his agency, CAA, while his longtime publicist, Staci Wolfe of Polaris PR, has also severed ties with the actor.
Spacey, 58, issued an apology to “Star Trek: Discovery” star Anthony Rapp after he claimed that Spacey climbed on top of him in an attempt to “get with me sexually” when Rapp was just 14.