Kevin Spacey has been slammed over his choice to come out as gay amid allegations he made a sexual advance on a 14-year-old Anthony Rapp.
In an interview with BuzzFeed published Sunday, Rapp, now 46, said he was in the celebrated actor’s apartment for a party in 1986, and that at the end of the night, he picked him up, placed him on a bed and climbed on top of him.
Spacey, 58, apologised for the alleged incident in a statement — “if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour,” he wrote — before coming out as gay.
“This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life,” he said. “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. As those closest to me know, in my life I have had romantic relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man.”
The statement angered many, particularly in the LGBT community, who saw the coming out story as a means to distract from the sexual misconduct allegations and as a damaging conflation of homosexuality and pedophilia. He was also slammed for implying that it was his ‘choice’ to be gay.
WATCH: Kevin Spacey stars in the thriller series, House of Cards. Post continues…
Taking to Twitter, Rose McGowan, who recently claimed she was raped by producer Harvey Weinstein, lead the charge against the House of Cards actor.
“Bye bye, Spacey goodbye, it’s your turn to cry, that’s why we’ve gotta say goodbye,” the actress and activist wrote.
She later added: “Gay = Gay. Predator = Predator.”
Rosie O’Donnell has also added her voice to the chorus, tweeting to Spacey on Monday: “u don’t remember the incident – 30 years ago? – f–k u kevin – like Harvey we all knew about u – I hope more men come forward.”
Meanwhile, Billy Eichner’s comments were quickly shared across Hollywood and the gay community.
“Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out,” the actor wrote on Twitter, adding: “I hesitate to make jokes because the Spacey statement is truly disgusting, irresponsible and dangerous. Ok goodnight!”
Comedian Wanda Sykes, who came out as a lesbian in 2008, added: “No no no no no! You do not get to ‘choose’ to hide under the rainbow! Kick rocks!”
In a similar vein, Comedian Cameron Esposito wrote on Twitter, “Just wanna be really f–ing clear that being gay has nothing to do w/ going after underage folks.”
Following the allegations, Netflix announced that they have decided to pull the plug on House of Cards after the upcoming sixth season next year.
