Kevin Spacey says he felt ‘attacked’ by the LGBTQ+ community after coming out
"Rather than the gay community understanding that… I always felt that I was being attacked," said Spacey
By Aaron Sugg
American actor Kevin Spacey has said he felt “attacked” by the LGBTQ+ community after coming out as gay in 2017.
Spacey came out in a statement on X following allegations made by Anthony Rapp that the actor made a sexual advance towards him, attempting to “seduce” a 14-year-old Rapp.
In response, Spacey described his alleged acts as “inappropriate drunken behaviour”, apologising to Rapp and coming out as “a gay man”.
“I always felt that I was being attacked” – Kevin Spacey on coming out as gay
On Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast this week, Spacey said: “There were so many stories about me. There was lots of talk that I was gay and I just wasn’t out and rather than the gay community understanding that… I always felt that I was being attacked.”
Spacey said he had planned to come out two years before the allegations that later engulfed his career, disputing the perception that he only disclosed his sexuality because of the scandal.
In the same interview, the actor said coming out was hard: “People within the gay community made jokes about me as if being famous and coming out was an easy thing.”
Spacey was refused special Emmy Award after the Anthony Rapp scandal
The scandal involving Rapp has impacted Spacey’s career ever since, so much so that in the same year the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences refused to grant him his special Emmy Award.
On his “10-year sentence”, as Maher put it, the actor replied: “I feel less in jail than I did. When people actually start to hear the facts, understand what we won in courts, I think people now look at this and think, ‘Maybe nine years has been enough.’”