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Zachary Quinto Calls Kevin Spacey's Coming Out a "Calculated Manipulation" to Deflect Attention From Anthony Rapp's Story
Zachary Quinto doesn’t believe Kevin Spacey‘s apology to Anthony Rapp was sincere.
Late Sunday night, Rapp claimed Spacey made a “sexual advance” toward him in 1986, when Rapp was a 14-year-old Broadway actor. Recalling a party he attended at Spacey’s apartment, Rapp said he grew bored at the adult get-together, went into a bedroom and watched TV. After the party ended, Spacey allegedly appeared in the doorway, picked him up, put him on the bed and laid on top of him. “He was trying to seduce me,” the Rent actor, 46, claimed. “I don’t know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”
In response, Spacey apologized to Rapp through a statement, which he shared on social media. The House of Cards actor began by saying he has “a lot of respect and admiration” for Rapp, and he was “beyond horrified to hear his story.” The actor also claimed he doesn’t remember the encounter, as it allegedly occurred 31 years ago. “But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.”
Spacey then addressed rumors about his sexual orientation. “As those closest to me know, in my life I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic relationships with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man,” he said. “I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior.”
Many prominent members of the LGBTQ community criticized Spacey’s response to the allegations. “Coming out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault,” Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, said. “This is not a coming out story about Kevin Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp and all those who bravely speak out against unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that.”
On Monday, Quinto joined a number of actors, including Billy Eichner and Wanda Sykes, who have publicly denounced Spacey. “It is deeply sad and troubling that this is how Kevin Spacey has chosen to come out,” he tweeted of the actor, with whom he starred in the 2011 financial thriller Margin Call. “Not by standing up as a point of pride—in the light of all his many awards and accomplishments—thus inspiring tens of thousands of struggling LGBTQ kids around the world. But as a calculated manipulation to deflect attention from a very serious accusation that he attempted to molest one. I am sorry to hear of Anthony Rapp’s experience and subsequent suffering. And I am sorry that Kevin only saw fit to acknowledge his truth when he thought it would serve him—just as his denial served him for so many years. May Anthony Rapp’s vice be the one which is amplified here. Victims’ voices are the ones that deserve to be heard.”
E! News has reached out to Spacey’s rep in light of the backlash.