Kevin Spacey Says ‘Neo-Nazi’ Father Prevented Him From Coming Out As Gay During Assault Trial

Actor Kevin Spacey began his testimony in his sexual assault lawsuit in New York on Monday and gave on-record responses to the accusations outlined against him by fellow actor Anthony Rapp.

Rapp accuses Spacey of touching him inappropriately in a Manhattan party when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26, and is seeking $40 million in damages.

Spacey is accused of inviting the young actor to a private room, when he then lifted up Rapp “like a groom carrying a bride over the threshold,” and then laid him on a bed and climbed on top of him. Rapp also said in his testimony that he quickly squirmed out and left the apartment.

Spacey called this accusation “not true.”

In his version of the story, he encountered Rapp and actor John Barrowman after a play Spacey appeared in, Long Days Journey Into Night. He claimed he invited the two of them to dinner, a nightclub and his studio, and only flirted with Barrowman, who was 19 at the time.

Rapp has claimed that this outing was where he met Spacey, but the actual incident happened when Spacey invited him to an apartment party days later.

Spacey also addressed one heavily-criticized aspect of his response to the assault allegations. He infamously revealed that he was a gay man in 2017 after Rapp’s accusations were first made public, quickly garnering criticism from gay celebrities and others for the timing of that announcement.

The actor claimed that he was silent about his sexuality because of growing up with a bigoted “Neo-Nazi father.” He added that his father would “yell at me at the idea that I might be gay,” so because of that he “never talked about these things.”

“It was wrong and it was really bad and I’m deeply sorry,” Spacey said after describing the backlash to his coming out.

Spacey will also have to stand trial in the U.K. after he was charged with four counts of sexual assault against three men while he was artistic director of the theater The Old Vic.