Fresh allegations against Spacey surface
Anonymous accuser says he was a teen at the time
The list of allegations facing Kevin Spacey continues to grow after actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making unwanted sexual advances on him when he was 14.
The latest developments: Filmmaker:‘Spacey grabbed me’
Another accuser of Spacey has come forward, filmmaker Tony Montana, who says a drunken Spacey confronted him in 2003 at a trendy Los Angeles pub, groping his genitals and telling him, “This designates ownership.”
“He grabbed me hard; no one had ever done that to me,” Montana told USA TODAY, speaking from Seattle, where he is shooting a movie about a Hollywood director spinning out of control and forced to face his demons.
Montana was surprised to see Spacey, whom he recognized but had never seen before, in the Coronet Pub, a hangout for Hollywood types at the time.
Montana, then in his 30s, pushed Spacey’s hand away (turning his thumb back in a martial-arts move). Then Spacey, whom he described as falling-down drunk, followed him into the bathroom and practically fell on him.
“I pushed him back, backed him out of the bathroom and told his friends, ‘Time to take your boy home,’ ” Montana said.
He never said anything publicly about his encounter, in part for an ironic reason. At the time, Montana was working on a documentary, 2003’s Overnight, about a filmmaker who had been blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein. He was afraid that if he spoke up, the mogul might find out about the project and threaten his chances of getting it made.
“I couldn’t tell anyone what I was doing lest it get back to Harvey and he’d sue me before I could get insurance (for the film),” Montana says. “And I was reluctant because I thought nothing would come of it.”
Although people in the bar saw him grab Spacey’s hand, he didn’t think anyone would confirm his story. At the time, he says, everyone in Hollywood knew not to talk negatively about “certain people in the industry, particularly if they were carrying their sexuality close to the vest. ... People just wouldn’t say anything, they would talk among their friends and (compare) the same stories.”
So he said nothing. Instead, he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and eventually went on with his career, he says. Then Anthony Rapp made his explosive allegation Sunday night.
“I went, ‘He did it to somebody else,’ ” says Montana, who says he isn’t seeking money or an apology from Spacey. After the Weinstein scandal broke, “people were feeling free to speak. ... I thought, ‘I need to come forward with this.’ ... If Anthony had not come forward, I would not have — I would have kept it to myself forever.”
Montana credits Rapp but he also points to the involvement of Weinstein. “He is the haunting figure in all this,” Montana says. Spacey may be tormented, too, he says: “Things that happened 30 years ago or 14 years ago, they can come back to haunt you.”
Still, he points out, Weinstein’s career and power have been destroyed. Spacey may yet survive, he says, partly because he’s far more likable. He speculates that Spacey’s comeback chances will be better if he goes public with a proper mix of contrition and humor at his own expense.
BBC publishes account of anonymous accuser
Joining Rapp and Mexican actor Roberto Cavazos, who came forward with similar allegations Tuesday, is an anonymous man identified by the BBC as John.
In an interview with the news out- let’s Victoria Derbyshire published Wednesday, the man described a weekend he allegedly spent with Spacey in New York in the 1980s as a teen.
John said he initially perceived Spacey as “charming and brotherly,” but, on the first night, Spacey invited John into his bed. John instead opted for the sofa.
“We went to sleep,” John recounted. “He was sobbing from his bed, which I knew enough to know that that was likely meant to get me to respond in some way, which I didn’t. I just sort of tried to make it through the evening.”
“In the morning,” John continued, “I woke up and his head was on my stomach and his arms were wrapped around my torso very affectionately, I would suppose.”
John said that while he was wearing clothes, Spacey was in his underwear.
“(It) certainly wasn’t aggressive but it was affectionate and certainly not something I was comfortable with as a heterosexual male,” John said, “but not something I was gonna jump out a window over.”
USA TODAY has not independently verified the BBC report.
Spacey addressed Rapp’s allegations via Twitter Sunday, explaining that though he did not “remember the encounter,” he owes Rapp “the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”
In the statement, Spacey also came out “as a gay man.”
A request for comment from Spacey’s representatives on the allegations from Montana and on the BBC report was not immediately returned.