By Jack Queen
(Reuters) – Closing arguments began on Thursday in Kevin Spacey’s civil sex abuse trial, as the Oscar-winning actor fights allegations that he made an unwanted advance on a 14-year-old in 1986.
Anthony Rapp, now 50, testified earlier this month that an intoxicated Spacey – then 26 and acting on Broadway – climbed on top of him at a party at his Manhattan apartment. Rapp, at the start of his own Broadway career at the time, said he was able to “swerve my way out” but that the experience scarred him.
Spacey has denied the allegation on the stand, saying he had never been alone with Rapp.
The trial in Manhattan federal court began on Oct. 6, just under five years after Spacey’s career was upended by a sexual misconduct allegations.
Rapp, who starred in the Broadway musical “Rent,” sued Spacey for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress in November 2020, seeking $40 million in damages.
During the trial, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan dismissed Rapp’s claim for emotional distress but allowed the case to proceed on his battery claim.
Last week, Spacey’s lawyer challenged Rapp’s memory of the 1986 incident during cross-examination, questioning him on why he described the encounter as having occurred in a bedroom when Spacey lived in a studio at the time.
Spacey won Oscars for performances in “American Beauty” and “The Usual Suspects,” but his career largely ended after more than 20 men accused him of sexual misconduct.
Spacey faces a criminal trial in London next year after pleading not guilty to five sex offense charges over alleged assaults between 2005 and 2013.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen, Jody Godoy and Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Alistair Bell)
