Spacey ordered to pay House

LOS ANGELES: Kevin Spacey must pay House of Cards producer MRC nearly $31m after breaching his contract by violating the company’s sexual harassment policy, an arbitrator has ruled.

Spacey (pictured), who played Frank Underwood on the hit Netflix series, was cut from the show following explosive allegations of sexually preying on young men.

On Monday, MRC filed papers in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to confirm the arbitration award.

The accusations, which included groping of a production assistant, caused MRC to conduct an investigation and ultimately terminate Spacey’s acting and producing contracts, The Hollywood Reporter has reported.

MRC had sought the damages for lost revenue due to Spacey’s exit from the show after actor Anthony Rapp alleged in 2017 that Spacey had made unwanted sexual advances when Rapp was 14.

Production was suspended after allegations from eight anonymous crew members of harassment and groping by Spacey. The series lasted one more season, but MRC said that it lost money by forcing rewrites and cutting season 6 from 13 episodes to eight.

In MRC’s motion, it said that “Spacey – as a result of certain conduct in connection with several crew members in each of the five seasons that he starred in and executive produced House of Cards – had repeatedly breached his contractual obligations to provide his services in a professional manner”.

The ruling was made in October 2020, but only became public on Monday, when MRC filed its petition.

Spacey’s career has been in decline since being accused of multiple instances of sexual assault.

“The safety of our employees, sets and work environments is of paramount importance to MRC and why we set out to push for accountability,” said MRC in a statement following the filing.