Kevin Spacey statement posted on Twitter, 15 minutes ago

[highplainsdem]

Link to tweet

The statement will have to be read in the image there, or here:

[bettyellen]

1. You know more stories will now come out. Another open secret explodes in the media...

[Catherine Vincent]

2. Wow

Kevin Spacey!

[True Dough]

3. Sometimes it feels like there's very limited

moral compass out there

[bluepen]

4. The second paragraph could have started with...

“But enough about him. Let’s talk about me. ME! ME! ME!”

[SaschaHM]

5. Rolling my gay eyes so hard at the second paragraph.

Don't drag us into your mess, Kevin. And please, you pretty much came out at the Tonys this summer.


I've already seen a couple of headlines applauded him for coming out as if that's the relevant part in this story.

[WinkyDink]

7. Where is the dragging in paragraph 2?

[Lotusflower70]

9. That's kind of what I was thinking

It wasn't necessary to say that. He is gay, so what. No issue there. But why tie it to what happened. His gayness is irrelevant. Also the minimizing and rationalization. He said he was drunk and it was so long ago. It was insulting and pathetic. Not much of an apology, just a lot of excuses.

[forgotmylogin]

18. I think he didnt want speculation

About him (Spacey) to snarl up any sort of reconciliation of this. He’s saying he’s not straight so it could have happened. If there’s a question about his own sexuality he wants to make sure people know he’s not saying “I’m straight therefore it wouldn’t have happened.”

[Alice11111]

19. Got that right.

[secondwind]

49. Hear, hear. I applaud Spacey for responding quickly and honestly.

[Demsrule86]

63. The I don't remember / If I did it....weasel words and I do no respect it at all. I don't believe he

doesn't remember.

[Honeycombe8]

78. That WAS 30 years ago. I can see not remembering everything from that long ago, esp if drunk.

I'm sure there were things that happened to me or things I said decades ago when drunk or high that I don't recall. Except I know I would never have done anything like molest someone or hit someone or anything against my nature.

[pnwmom]

17. What he did was obviously wrong. But 30+ years ago was in the 80's. It's easy to forget

what that time period was like.

There was so much shame involved for so many in being gay. The country was moving from an era when gay sex was considered criminal behavior and/or a sign of mental illness. By the 80's psychologists no longer considered being gay a "perversion" -- but we were in the midst of the AIDS epidemic.

It sounds like he was hiding from his sexuality, and being drunk was when he expressed it. Drunk people do stupid things.

[SaschaHM]

25. I don't need a gay history lesson. I also don't need a 40+ year old man who's sexuality

has been an open secret for years, using it as an excuse to climb on teens.

Plenty of drunken, closeted men have avoided climbing on top of teenagers. No. Just no. Nothing excuses what he is accused of doing. More dominoes are going to fall.11

[pnwmom]

26. He isn't using it as an excuse for anything TODAY. He's talking about something in the 80's

when he was 26.

And I said what he did was wrong. But I also think the atmosphere of shame then made this kind of thing more likely. He couldn't face himself sober, so he did stupid things while drunk.

[OnDoutside]

47. Well said.

[secondwind]

50. Bravo

[yardwork]

53. I disagree. He attacked a fourteen year old child. No excuses.

[Dave Starsky]

55. No kidding. What a bunch of horseshit.

I've been whacked off my ass more times than I can ever remember, and I never attacked any 14-year-olds. Ever.

I don't give a shit what his excuses are, though it appears he has many. All child molesters do.

I WAS a fan. But my heart bleeds for this victim and the others we don't know about (yet). THEY'RE the ones who deserve our pity and understanding, not that fuckhead.

[yardwork]

56. Thank you.

[pnwmom]

73. I've seen a photo of the kid now and I agree -- this wasn't a mistake of not being able to tell

he was underage, which I thought might be true originally. (My brother was 6 feet and shaving at that age.)

It's interesting seeing the reaction here and actually gratifying. Years ago on this site I had to argue with numerous people that NAMBLA shouldn't be allowed to march in the gay pride parades. The general feeling among men (that I repeatedly argued against) was that the parades shouldn't exclude anyone, no matter who they preferred to "love."

As I recall, lesbians were less likely to support allowing NAMBLA to march.

I bet few people would argue that today.

[obamanut2012]

59. Exactly -- molesting minors wasn't okay then, either

People act like it was the 1880s.

[Honeycombe8]

79. We don't know that for a fact. He did not admit to that. He said he doesn't remember...

he might have been drunk. 30 years ago.

Of course, the fact that it COULD have happened doesn't help. I know for a fact that I wouldn't have done such a thing years ago when drunk. It's not in my nature, & I wasn't that kind of drunk.

[oberliner]

70. "He couldn't face himself sober, so he did stupid things while drunk."

I can't believe I am reading this BS here.

[Alice11111]

27. Not related to being gay, or, as he says, loving men or women.

Gay people and straight people don't molest or rape kids, unless they are narcissistic, sadistic & sick. Hs statement was an insult to gays.

He may have been drunk. WTF! If you murder someone when you are drunk, it is still murder. More important, the person is still dead.
30 years ago...once a pedo, always a pedo. I wonder how many in between.
I remember a lot of things, especially unusual things, very clearly from 30 years ago.
I thought he made one of the most piss poor responses I have seen, and I'm sure he has a publicist.

No matter if I were drunk and stoned out of mind 30 years ago, that wouldn't have happened. Normal Adults naturally defend and protect children. How creepy to get technical over whether the little guy was exactly prepubescent.

I'm not attacking you. It is just a caee for which, if it happens, there are no excuses. No tolerance. I forgive most things, but not that.

[pnwmom]

33. If he was drunk he would have been even less able to judge a teenager's age than when sober.

But I said that -- he didn't.

He has expressed regret for what he did, and an awareness that it was wrong.

I don't think being gay made him molest the young man. But society had driven him into the closet and alcohol helped him get out. So he was reacting in part to the homophobic culture he was living in.

[Alice11111]

35. I usually agree with you. On this one, he only expressed regret

& awareness after he was caught. He's a pedo perv. I have zero sympathy. Another Weinstein, but with a more vulnerable victim. I'm sure it's victims. They don't just do it once. I hope he will see.

I was giving him the benefit of the doubt until I read his statement. Outrageous excuses.

[SaschaHM]

38. " But society had driven him into the closet and alcohol helped him get out"

That's one hell of an assumption. Nothing in his statement indicates that he had a problem with alcohol and/or that problem was caused by the pressures of being closeted. There's also the question of just how closeted he was, which he doesn't really state. Only that his closest friends and family knew. Hollywood figures separate their private/public lives all the time so one can't assume that he was "closeted" in the traditional sense.

[pnwmom]

39. He described it as "deeply inappropriate drunken behavior." So that's the "something"

in his statement.

Alcohol lowers inhibitions. He wouldn't have been the first person to behave sexually while drunk in a way he wouldn't have while sober.

And back then Hollywood figures OFTEN were just as closeted as any man outside of Hollywood. Their whole careers depended on not being outed. Cary Grant most likely died in the closet, with a 40+ year old 5th wife. But he'd spent 12 years living with Randolph Scott -- more than most of his wives.

[yardwork]

57. He attacked a child. That's a crime. Being gay or drunk is not an excuse.

That Spacey is trying to excuse his sexually predatory behavior by implying that it's ok because he's gay makes me want to vomit.

I'm quite serious about this. This is the absolute worst thing that he could say.

[Alice11111]

90. Spot on.

[AngryAmish]

65. Oh, the horrors of being gay in the NY theater scene in the 80s...

Please.

[yardwork]

67. Seriously. As a matter of fact, come to think of it, even I was part of the 1980s NY theatre scene.

And attacking children was not ok then either.

[AngryAmish]

71. How could you prevent yourself from trying to get with a barely teenager?

You must have an iron will.

Please.

[yardwork]

74. I know, right? I can't believe what I'm reading here.

[oberliner]

40. Here's what Anthony Rapp looked like at the time

In his description of the incident, he mentions that he looked younger than his age (14).

[LisaL]

41. I presume he knew the teenager's age prior to getting drunk.

The age would have been the same regardless of him being drunk or sober.

[Honeycombe8]

80. He didn't admit to it. He said he doesn't remember, & offered a possible excuse for why he doesn't.

So he wouldn't call the guy a liar. It's possible he didn't do it.

He also mentioned the gay thing because altho the guy was a minor, he was male, so he was admitting to the fact that he WOULD have hit on a male....because he was bisexual in those days.

[malaise]

51. Please remember that the kid

he tried to rape was 14. That's the issue here. Drunk does not cover this one

[Alice11111]

91. Rapp is courageous to come forward now!!!

[yardwork]

52. Attacking a fourteen year old is not acceptable in the context of being gay. It's wrong.

As a lesbian, I am horrified by Spacey's tweet. It is grotesque of him to try to excuse attacking a child by saying he's gay. The sex of the child is not relevant.

Spacey has just reinforced an old libel against gay people by implying that we're pedophiles.

This makes me sick.

[moriah]

75. I don't need a history lesson either.

I am glad he didn't call him a liar, and called the behavior inexcusable whether he remembers it or not, whether he was drunk or not.

But I do understand why many people who ARE gay are offended as hell that he's tarring them with their brush by bringing up that he's living as a gay man now. As people said, you don't get to hide pedophilia under the rainbow.

The only relevance time brings is that he might have a harder time remembering a blackout 30 years ago than one that happened last night. But if he's saying he must have been blackout drunk and that's why he doesn't remember it, it's STILL not an excuse.

I actually do believe he intended to own anything he may have done, but he didn't come across right.

[obamanut2012]

58. He also came out in an intreview like 15 years ago

Then freaked out and threatened to sue the mag and said the reporter was lying.

Are there actually people who didn't know he was gay???

[shanti]

81. I didn't know...

But I don't care if he is or not. His pedo behavior is the damning part.

[Demsrule86]

62. We choose who we love which is a good thing and not the same thing as preying

kids...That is the right wing meme too and should never be reinforced.

[anneboleyn]

76. Dan Savage has been ripping Spacey for trying to make it a coming out issue instead of a

sexual assault or attempted assault on a 14 year old issue.

[mnmoderatedem]

6. he honestly doesn't remember whether he initiated a sexual encounter with a 14 year old boy?

[BainsBane]

8. Reads like an admission to me

couched in bullshit.

[Alice11111]

29. No shit! Well stated.

[Initech]

11. I'm guessing a lot of this was involved.

[sarah FAILIN]

15. Alcohol allows you to be your true self with an excuse

I can understand his feelings coming out and also can understand him not remembering. Not an excuse for him, but his judgement wasn't there and he may not have realized the guy was 14. He also could have been blacking out.

Honestly though, I remember very little from 30 years ago.

[Dave Starsky]

60. I'll bet if you were molesting kids 30 years ago...

You would have remembered it.

Because you'd probably still be doing it.

[yardwork]

68. Bingo.

[JI7]

13. he is trying to excuse himself by saying he was drunk so anything that happened

he wasn't fully aware of.

[FreeState]

20. I dont know about that

First off I’ve never been a fan of his. I find him phony. Probably in the minority there but I dont know.

As an older gay man I can see a closed gay 26 year old in the 80s acting out on a bad choice. I’m not excusing the behavior at all - just saying I definitely see how that could have happened (and him not being a serial pedo. As a gay man I know lots of other gay men that made mistakes sexually in their youth because they were in the closet, 30 years ago was a very different time for gay men in and out of Hollywood).

All abuse needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the the law. I think this is a good step In the right direction.

[JI7]

24. what if there are accusations in the last 15 years or so ?

[pnwmom]

28. Why speculate until that happens? This incident took place in the 80's.

[JI7]

37. i'm not speculating on the specific case but i'm trying to see where the poster would the time

as having changed .

[pnwmom]

30. I remember that era well.

My father came out in the 80's. People forget how different the world was then. As you say, that doesn't excuse his behavior. But it could explain why he acted out when he was drunk.

[FreeState]

34. Its hard to explain to people

Without it sounding like an excuse for the behavior. Gays had no role models, were mostly in the closet, HIV etc., part of the rights weapons were calling gays perverted. Their power was they created an environment that created that behavior. It doesn’t excuse it but it’s enlightening for sure.

[OnDoutside]

48. Even 30 years ago was a world away from the freedom gay people

have nowadays, to live an openly gay life. Iirc homosexuality was still a criminal offence in the UK or only recently decriminalised. A good friend of mine who is gay still had a tough time being so openly gay because it was so engrained in his psyche to be secretive about his sexuality.

[moriah]

85. My dad was bi, and had the added trauma...

... of repeated violent sexual assault from older boys prior to puberty while in the Stonewall Jackson Training School in North Carolina. And at 12, after he finally agreed he would go to school rather than suffer rape, he was a victim of statutory rape by the older neighbor lady who he learned molested every boy in the neighborhood. He thought he was the luckiest boy in the world after that one and immediately showed what he learned to his 11 year old girlfriend.

He could really only be sexual with men while high -- meth. Or very very drunk. And was high and drunk a lot while my mom was working on the road to support all of us.

That doesn't excuse the fact he molested my older sister. Not that he was drunk and high when he did it. Not that he was under 25 himself, she was less than 12 and he was over 18. Not that he had some extremely warping experiences that perhaps made him not understand viscerally the horror of what he was really doing until being told my sister had cried when she told my Mother.

Yes, he admitted it and owned his actions. He didn't call her a liar. That's the only thing he and Spacey have done right in this (edit: Spacey may not have admitted it, but he didn't deny it or call his victim a liar).

But NOTHING excuses molesting a child.

[pnwmom]

86. I wasn't trying to excuse what he did, which isn't excusable.

I was pointing to the fact that in that era, being gay was considered a perversion just as bad as pedophilia or bestiality. He might have needed to be drunk to be sexual at all.

At the time I hadn't seen a photo of the 14 year old, so I was thinking he might have looked more like my brother at that age (6 feet tall and shaving). Instead, he looks younger than 14, so even drunk Spacey couldn't have been mistaken about his age.

[joshcryer]

16. 30 years ago this was "normal" behavior.

Little to no consequences for acting that way.

[yardwork]

54. Attacking a fourteen year old is NEVER normal.

[Sgent]

83. In the 1980's

the age of consent in many states was still 14.

[yardwork]

87. Oh really? Got any evidence for that? This happened in New York.

[FreeState]

92. No it wasn't, all but three states were above 15 years of age by 1920

Georgia and Hawaii were the only holdouts at 14, raised in 1995 and 2001, respectively.

[moriah]

77. If he was blackout drunk, perhaps not.

Doesn't mean that it didn't happen or he is somehow less responsible for what he did because he was drunk.

It reads to me like he is admitting to at the least a lot of blackouts during that time, if he can't truly deny it. I'd like to think people would admit or deny something like that outright rather than hide behind a "blackout" to say it's possible he did it and avoid calling his victim a liar.

But then again that may be the only way he can figure out how to apologize and not invalidate the story but still avoid an outright admission that would open him up for civil liability. Still, drunk or not he'd still be responsible even in civil court, so the strategy of "I don't remember" is bad. If he testified he didn't remember the night in question, then preponderance of the evidence would lean toward a suit victory against him anyway.

[alittlelark]

10. ...........

Uh, ..... OK, guess the world of cocaine and narcissism just 'made you do it'.....

[Nevernose]

12. Ive got perfect recall of my rape attempts

I may not remember the 1000s of times I’ve been intoxicated, or the 80s very clearly, or my 20s beyond a blur, or even what happened 20 minutes ago, but I remember perfectly all the times I tried to rape someone of any sex or gender.

“Zero” is neither a hard number to count to nor a hard number to remember.

While I don’t expect Spacey to start admitting outright to felonies via Twitter, I also don’t expect a non-apology apology. It’s most certainly not the time to “officially” come out of the closet. JFC.

[Alice11111]

31. Simply and well stated.

[pnwmom]

36. How do you know this was a rape attempt? He certainly tried to start something,

but the account I read didn't say the attempt went very far.

It shouldn't have happened at all, obviously.

[Nevernose]

44. Rape might be a harsh term

And perhaps he just made an awkward pass, one which was immediately icky and quickly rebuffed. Those hypotheticals leave out the context.

This wasn’t a young-love, high school senior and her freshman love interest. 18 and 14 is icky and wrong and technically illegal, but hardly worthy ruining people’s lives over. Those are kids that need to be grounded.

From the admittedly brief description we got from both participants, my most generous interpretation from hearing both (admittedly abridged) side’s is that Spacey spent months grooming this kid in a textbook way. Found a kid who would be allowed to spend time alone with an older man, assumed role of caring mentor, provided opportunities to test boundaries with the frequent parties, stick-and-carrot approach to the kid’s career. Just culminated in a way that didn’t work out for him.

He didn’t push it, which is some small saving grace, but a 26 year Old should never have developed that sort of relationship with a 14 year old at all.

To sum up: it’s not a drunken pass thirty years ago that bothers me, it’s the refusal to own it any form, and it’s the missing context of the months seducing an underage kid.

[pnwmom]

46. Yeah, I hadn't heard anything about months of grooming. I'd read something about

meeting at an event, and then inviting him to some party in a few weeks. They were in different plays and I didn't know their relationship had consisted of more than what happened that night.

[bathroommonkey76]

14. There's a forum somewhere on these interwebs that

has a few threads dedicated to Kevin Spacey's conquests - Once you read the posts on there you will look at this man differently. I read it a couple of years ago - and after finding out the news tonight I'm not really shocked. To be honest I feel there are going to be dozens of men who come out against him in the next few days/hours!? Who knows.

[More_Cowbell]

22. Yes there have been stories about him for years

There are other people out there who say they were assaulted by Spacey.

[bathroommonkey76]

23. The forum I'm talking about goes into detail about those "assaults" lol

[defacto7]

21. The mispresented term here seems to be

Paederast or Pederast... not Paedophile.

A male adult having sex with a pubescent male is a Paederast. Sandusky of the UofP scandal is a Paederast. Illegal sex with a minor in any case.

[Alice11111]

32. What a glorious distinction

[defacto7]

42. A psychological distinction all the same.

I don't know the reasoning but it means something to science and the courts.

[Alice11111]

43. As a lawyer, yeah, but for the victim, it is still the most

brutalizing invasion of privacy one can have. For a child, it it worse in so many ways. Any human who would do this to a child, prepubescent or whatever, is excrement.

[Tatiana]

45. He did it. And there are others.

But yeah, I do appreciate the general trend toward honesty when confronted with this type of atrocious behavior.

My sympathies lie with the 14 year old -- not the adult that should have known better. Being drunk is no excuse.

Waiting for the other victims to come forward.

[Demsrule86]

61. I never knew this. It makes me sad...anyone see Fun Home about a closeted

man living a straight life with wife and kids. Allison Betchdel wrote it about her Dad. He ended up preying on his students (teacher).There is more to it, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has an opportunity to watch it. It was an amazing play . There is a cost to live a secret life. That being said, he took the 'I don't remember/if it happened' which means it damn well did happen." For those that think it is odd that the victim didn't come forward. My husband's sis was raped at 13 by a man she was babysitting for. It came out in therapy thirty years later...and it was heart wrenching when she shared it with the family. If affected her life in a negative way for years...in many respect it cost her her life...I hope the guy who did it (dead) is burning in hell.

[dsc]

64. This statement enrages me

I was a drunken, closeted, sot for much of the 1990's. I didn't have sex with or try to force myself upon children. The first paragraph is bad enough but the second is out of control. Sadly, his tactic worked, at least in the gay press, his coming out is lede the accusation, which he pretty much admitted to, second. Nothing short of appalling.

[yardwork]

69. This lesbian who was an adult during the 1980s agrees.

Spacey has used the worst libel against gay people as an excuse for attacking a child.

[ismnotwasm]

72. Yup.

[Honeycombe8]

82. It wasn't an attack, really. He made a move on him. When the 14yr old said no, that was it.

Not that that isn't bad enough. But I wouldn't characterize that as an attack.

[yardwork]

88. If you think that's "making a move" then I suggest you check yourself.

Picking somebody up, throwing them on the bed, and climbing on top of them is assault.

[Kaleva]

93. The 14 year old had to push Spacey off of him.

[demmiblue]

66. ...

[LittleBlue]

84. He all but admitted to sexually assaulting a minor

And worse, he's trying to use his coming out as some sort of mitigating factor. Like the boos should be followed with applause or something. Sociopathic rapist.

[doodsaq]

89. It's too bad...

I always liked Spacey as an actor. It's sad to see him go down like this. And the poor guy who was violated as a teen...

The Oscars are going to be a bit awkward next year.

[snooper2]

94. "I choose now to live as a gay man"

I thought it wasn't a choice?