Kevin Spacey, accuser trade duelling accounts at sexual misconducts trial

Lawyers for the actor Kevin Spacey and Anthony Rapp, the man whose accusations of sexual misconduct upended the Oscar winner's career, traded duelling accounts on Thursday about the men's encounters more than 30 years ago as a civil trial over Rapp's claims began in New York.

A lawyer for Rapp, who is seeking $40 million in damages, said in his opening statement that Spacey, then 26, drunkenly lifted Rapp onto a bed and climbed on top of him at a party at Spacey's New York apartment in 1986. Rapp was 14.

Spacey, 63, has denied Rapp's accusations and other sexual misconduct charges.

Rapp, now 50, filed the lawsuit in November 2020 alleging battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. 

Spacey's lawyer, Jennifer Keller, said Rapp made up the story because he was jealous his own acting career was not as successful as Spacey's. 

"He's been telling this story for attention, for sympathy, and to raise his own profile," Keller said. 

Spacey was charged with indecent assault in Massachusetts in 2018 over allegations he sexually abused an 18-year-old man at a Nantucket bar in 2016, but prosecutors later dropped the charges after the alleged victim refused to testify.