Spacey blasted for reply to sexual misconduct claim

For a few hours after a bombshell BuzzFeed interview in which actor Anthony Rapp alleged Kevin Spacey had made a sexual advance toward him more than 30 years ago, when Rapp was just 14, Spacey remained silent. Then, at midnight, the veteran actor posted a statement on Twitter.

In the first, Spacey said he was “beyond horrified” to hear Rapp’s story but did not remember the encounter, which would have taken place when Spacey was 26. However, he apologized “if I did behave then as [Rapp] describes … for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”

Then, in the second paragraph, Spacey came out as gay. “This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life,” he wrote. “I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior.”

His statement outraged many, particularly in the LGBT community, who accused Spacey of trying to deflect from a serious accusation by coming out. For years, the actor has danced around gay rumors.

“Coming out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault,” GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This is not a coming out story about Kevin Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp and all those who bravely speak out against unwanted sexual advances.”

Even worse, they said, was the implication that the two paragraphs in his statement might be related in any way.

“Kevin Spacey has set gay rights back fifty years by a) conflating homosexuality with” Rapp’s allegations, one Twitter user said, “and b) Saying that being gay is a ‘choice.’ ”