Teary-eyed Kevin Spacey takes the stand at NYC trial, denies having sexual interest in accuser or ‘any child’

Kevin Spacey denied making sexual advances on a 14-year-old boy as he took the witness stand Monday at his civil trial — and wept as he recalled the moment the #MeToo movement came for him.

The Academy Award-winning actor blotted tears from his eyes before a Manhattan Federal Court jury as he recalled his initial response to allegations from Anthony Rapp when Buzzfeed first published them in October 2017.

Rapp is suing Spacey for $40 million for a 1986 encounter described in the article, which alleges Spacey aggressively came on to him after a party at the older actor’s Upper East Side apartment.

“You can’t push back,” Spacey recalled his PR people telling him upon learning of Rapp’s accusations. “They’re going to call you a victim blamer.”

Kevin Spacey leaves the US District Courthouse on October 6, 2022 in New York City.

In a statement posted on Spacey’s Instagram account a day after the article published, the actor wrote that he was “beyond horrified” to read Rapp’s account.

“[If] I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior,” reads an excerpt.

On the witness stand, Spacey cut a different tone. He said he regretted issuing that statement instantaneously.

“I was being encouraged to apologize — and I’ve learned a lesson, which is never apologize for something you didn’t do,” Spacey said.

“I regret my entire statement.”

Anthony Rapp arrives at court for the civil lawsuit trial against Kevin Spacey,  Thursday, Oct 6, 2022, in New York.

Spacey, 63, said he also regretted using the opportunity to come out as gay. He began crying as he described friends of his being hurt about the timing.

“I would never have done anything to hurt the gay community,” Spacey said. He later added, “I understood why people thought that’s what I was doing.”

Speaking slowly and calmly, Spacey punctuated his testimony with long pauses. He claimed Rapp was barely on his radar when they first met backstage while he was performing alongside Jack Lemmon on Broadway in “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”

“It’s vague,” Spacey said. “It didn’t make a big impression. He was a kid in a play. That’s all I can remember.”

Thomas Fowler, the father of Kevin Spacey, in an undated photo.

Jurors have heard much about Spacey first meeting Rapp when the teen came to see the play he was starring in with an older friend from his Chicago high school, who was also an actor.

Spacey, Rapp, and Rapp’s friend, John Barrowman, all agree the trio went for dinner after meeting backstage and then to Limelight nightclub.

But Rapp has testified that he does not remember returning to Spacey’s after the club with Barrowman. Barrowman, who was 19 at the time, does remember it, according to deposition testimony shown to jurors Monday.

Spacey said he remembered flirting with Barrowman at the nightclub and afterward at his apartment.

“I was quite captivated by Mr. Barrowman,” said Spacey. “Anthony Rapp seemed like a kid, and John Barrowman seemed like a man.”

Rapp alleges his abusive encounter with Spacey happened days later when he was invited back to Spacey’s for a small gathering.

An adamant Spacey testified that Rapp never came over to his place again. He swore that he’d never had “any” sexual interest in him “or any child,” and that they had never been alone together.

Early in his testimony, Spacey contended that his rocky relationship with his “neo-Nazi” father, who verbally abused him for suspecting he was gay, stopped him from coming out for most of his career. Lawyers for Spacey have accused Rapp of having an ax to grind because Spacey waited to publicly reveal his sexuality.

Spacey said his white supremacist father “used to yell at me about the idea I might be gay because I was interested in theater.”

Over 20 men have accused Spacey of sexual misconduct, including sexual assault and rape. He faces criminal charges in the U.K. The actor denies all allegations.

Judge Lewis Kaplan threw out Rapp’s claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress for legal reasons, leaving a sole remaining battery claim.

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