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On Sunday, actor Anthony Rapp accused Oscar winner Kevin Spacey of making unwanted advances towards him when he was just 14 years old and Spacey was 26. In response, the House of Cards star released a statement on Twitter that confoundingly commingled an apology with Spacey’s publicly coming out as a gay man for the first time.
Many, especially those in the LGBTQ community, have taken umbrage with Spacey’s choice to come out in a statement responding to accusations of inappropriate sexual advances towards a minor, arguing that combining the two gives anti-LGBTQ conservatives more ammo in their preposterous claims that homosexuality equals deviant sexual behavior. Backlash on social media was swift, as Dan Savage, Billy Eichner, Rose McGowan, and others took to Twitter to voice their displeasure with Spacey’s statement. Read a few of their responses below (via Variety).
In its own statement, GLAAD ripped Spacey’s statement as a deflection from allegations of sexual assault. “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, said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD.” The media and public should not gloss over that.”
