It’s been a troubling week for Hollywood, as numerous, high-profile entertainers have been accused of multiple counts of sexual harassment, in some cases stretching back for decades. It has been disheartening, disturbing and, above all, devastating for the victims of these assaults.
Outside of powerhouse producer Harvey Weinstein, whose accusations seem to have opened the doors for all of the later revelations, the biggest name to be thrown out in these accusations has undoubtedly been Kevin Spacey. The acclaimed actor was accused by Anthony Rapp — best known for playing Mark in 2005’s Rent and Paul Stamets in this year’s Star Trek: Discovery — of making sexual advances on him in 1986, when Rapp was only fourteen years old.
Let me repeat that. Kevin Spacey, then a twenty-six-year-old man, made sexual advances on a fourteen-year-old boy. A grown adult tried to have sex with a child half his age.
Spacey’s response was… shall we say… less than inspiring. In a calculated, less than half-hearted “apology,” Spacey wrote the encounter, which he claims to not remember, off as a drunken mistake. And then — in a painfully obvious, non-sequitur deflection — the two-time Oscar winner cum hebephiliac announced that he’s gay, prompting at least one commentator to opine that “you cannot hide your shame behind our pride.”
Mr. Spacey may have played lip service to some cynically calculated “reformation,” but people understandably are not buying (nor should they). In much the same vein as their response to the Las Vegas mass shooting (in which they delayed the release of The Punisher by a full month), Netflix has stepped up and made a responsible choice in solidarity with Spacey’s victim, rather than with their corporate bottom line. The video streaming service has officially cut ties with the accused actor, cancelling their celebrated series House of Cards — in which Spacey starred — as well as his upcoming film Gore.
Netflix announced this decision by stating:
“Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show. We have also decided we will not be moving forward with the release of the film Gore, which was in post-production, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey.”
Despite cancelling their involvement with these Spacey projects, Netflix is not about to give up on the success that they have brought to their platform. Rumors are circulating that Spacey’s character will be killed off and the series resumed without him. Other sources claim that the company is looking into any number of Spacey-less spin-offs for the franchise. Either way, Spacey himself will cease his involvement on the series, effective immediately.
This is only the first step for what needs to happen, but it is a momentous one that should not be dismissed out of hand. House of Cards was Netflix’s first real success with original, first-run programming: something that is now the cornerstone of their business. It, followed by Orange Is the New Black later that year, paved the way for series like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Castlevania, revivals like Boy Meets Girl, Fuller House, Bill Nye Saves the World and movies like Hush, 1922 and Gerald’s Game. Running for five seasons and winning several Golden Globes during that time, it was an unprecedented achievement — both financial and commercial — for the streaming provider.
Let’s just hope that the rest of Hollywood follows Netflix’s resplendent example.
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