Wednesday, I joined Stacy Washington to discuss the sexual misconduct allegations (namely alleged pederast tendencies) levied at Hollywood hotshot, Kevin Spacey.
From the way Spacey willingly maligned the entire gay community, to his refusal to deny allegations, the whole thing ordeal stinks to high heaven, as we say in these parts.
As these things go, the initial allegations pave the way for other alleged victims to tell their story. Wednesday, another actor claims there are many young men with a ‘Spacey story’. Yet another claims Spacey once flashed him, and then gave him his watch in what he understood to be a gift meant to keep him quiet. And still another alleges he woke up to find Spacey laying on top of him.
From The Guardian (lengthy, but detailed):
The Mexican actor Roberto Cavazos said there were many young men with a “Kevin Spacey story”. He added: “It seems that it only took a male under 30 to make Mr Spacey feel free to touch us.”…On his Facebook page, Cavazos recalled a “couple of unpleasant encounters” with Spacey including being squeezed by him in the Old Vic bar.He recalled being told a similar story by many people of how Spacey invited young male actors to the Old Vic to “talk about their careers”. Cavazos continued: “When they arrived at the theatre, the gentleman had prepared a picnic with champagne on the stage, beautifully lit.”More common was that Spacey was in the bar, “squeezing whoever caught his attention”, Cavazos alleges.Cavazos said his direct experiences with Spacey were on the edge of harassment. “Had I been a woman, I probably would not have hesitated to identify it as such, but I suppose that the lack of a more specifically direct or aggressive action led me to justify the incident as ‘one of those things’,” he said.Spacey was artistic director of the Old Vic for 11 years until 2015. The theatre says it received no complaints about any inappropriate behaviour but has expressed “deep dismay” at the allegations and opened up a confidential complaints process if people want to come forward.A West Sussex barman, Daniel Beal, has claimed Spacey exposed himself to him and then gave him a £5,000 watch to keep him quiet.Beal told the Sun that the incident happened when he was 19 and having a cigarette break. He alleges Spacey sat next to him on a bench and flashed at him saying: “It’s big isn’t it.”The barman returned to work followed by Spacey, who insisted he take his watch. “I thought he was joking but he took off his watch and gave it to me. Looking back I realise it was to keep me quiet.” Beal is pictured in the Sun wearing the IWC Schaffhausen Portofino watch, which he sold for £3,200 the next day.An anonymous man has told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme that he was traumatised after he woke up to find Spacey lying on him.The man says he was a teenager when the incident took place in 1985. He had been invited to stay at Spacey’s New York home and the actor asked him to share his bed. He declined and slept on the sofa, waking up to find Spacey’s head on his stomach and his arms wrapped around him.The man believes Spacey was grooming him. “I was uncomfortable at best, traumatised at worst. He was either very stupid or predatory – or maybe a little of both.”
As Stacy and I discussed Wednesday, so far, no character witnesses have come forward suggesting the allegations against Spacey are fictitious. Though it’s always wise to be cautious of Weinsteining (it has a name now), wherein allegations are aired in a court of public opinion, without proper definition, and without granting the accused party an opportunity to speak to the allegations (i.e. college campus kangaroo courts).
As the ridiculous sexual assault allegations against President Bush (41) proved, not all claims of sexual harassment should be lumped together. Grabbing someone’s toosh is vastly different from violent rape and sexual coercion. Words and their meanings matter. Or they should.
Long ago Hollywood declared itself the moral authority of American culture, deciding what was and is ‘right thinking’ and socially acceptable yet these same people who spend year after year and self-aggrandizing award show after award show lecturing half the country on the wrongness of their traditional values have spent decades covering up the crimes of serial sexual predators.
Sorry, Hollywood, but you don’t get the privilege of lecturing us on morality when as an industry, you’ve collectively refused to speak out, and declined to protect our youth and children from those that have done them harm.
Actor Corey Feldman has said for years that Hollywood harbors pederasts, only the be mocked and scorned by his Hollywood betters. He says he’ll name names. I hope he does, and soon.
You can listen to my discussion with Stacy beneath:
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
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