Netflix suspends ‘Cards’
Netflix wasted little time in reacting to Anthony Rapp’s revelation that he was sexually assaulted by Kevin Spacey when he was 14 and working in a play in New York. The network, saying it was “deeply troubled” by the matter, announced it will end “House of Cards” after its sixth season, now being filmed.
On Tuesday, the network went further, announcing it had suspended production on the show immediately. The network and the show’s producer, Media Rights Capital, said it would halt production in order to address “any concerns of our cast and crew.” That’s a good next step. I interviewed Rapp in 2006 after his memoir, “Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss
and the Musical Rent,” came out. The book detailed how he dealt with his mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis at the same time his career was taking off in “Rent.” It was a good interview because Rapp is thoughtful, intelligent and not a flake. Even before Spacey issued his, frankly, outrageous response, I knew Rapp was telling the truth about Spacey hitting on him when he was 14.
On the one hand, Spacey did not deny the incident with Rapp, but he said that he didn’t remember it. Accepting Rapp’s statement that it happened, he apologized.
That would have been an acceptable start, except that Spacey turned the conversation toward his own sexuality, belatedly acknowledging that he now chooses to openly live his life as a gay man.
Who asked you? Who cares? Sexual orientation has nothing to do with the issue of hitting on a 14-year-old. That is a crime. Many on social media were outraged because Spacey’s statement would resurrect the repugnant and completely wrong linkage of homosexuality and pedophilia.
Heaven knows, there are people who still think that way. They don’t need encouragement by an actor who probably hired PR magicians to come up with a strategy to distract public attention from the real issue, that he hit on a juvenile.
That’s the part that bothers me, that whenever people in power get accused of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior, they are able to hire professionals to script their pro forma “mea culpas” and then devise strategies to sweep it all under the rug.
“House of Cards” has been around for five seasons. It is still a decent show, thanks largely to Robin Wright’s performance, but it was heading for the exit anyway. While I would not want to see the entire cast penalized for Spacey’s behavior, which would have been the case had Netflix permanently halted filming the sixth season now, the network should have canned him at once and written his character out of the show. That would have sent a more convincing message without putting an entire cast and crew out of work.
And that’s the message I hope Netflix will make at this point. Resume production without Spacey. Wright is more than capable of carrying the show in its final season.
A good friend of mine is involved in another project Spacey is working on, the film “Gore,” based on “Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal,” by Jay Parini. There is talk that Netflix may pull the plug on that film as well. I’ve known Jay for many years. I wouldn’t wish him ill for anything in the world. But as long as people in power are allowed to get away with a scripted walk of shame, followed by engineered protection from the consequences of their actions, the more those actions become acceptable behavior, or at least tolerated. They should be neither.
Wink-wink is simply not in any way an acceptable response when a person with power takes advantage of someone who is vulnerable or beholden to them.
Netflix hasn’t gone far enough yet, but it has an opportunity now to do so. The production suspension gives the network a chance to play its cards right.