Kevin Spacey was cancelled in October 2017 after Anthony Rapp accused him of a 1986 sexual advance when Rapp was 14, and within weeks Spacey had been fired from House of Cards, erased from a finished film, and cut off by mainstream Hollywood. In the years since, he has been acquitted in a London criminal trial, cleared by a New York civil jury, forced through a $31 million arbitration loss, and, by his own account in 2024, left effectively broke. He denies all the allegations, works in low-budget European productions, and remains outside the studio system.
What Set the Cancellation in Motion
Rapp’s account, published by BuzzFeed on October 29, 2017, described a 26-year-old Spacey picking him up at a party, placing him on a bed, and climbing on top of him.1NPR. Kevin Spacey Anthony Rapp Verdict More men came forward within days. Filmmaker Tony Montana said Spacey groped him at a Los Angeles bar in 2003. Harry Dreyfuss alleged groping in 2008. Daniel Beal said Spacey exposed himself at a West Sussex hotel in 2010.2BBC. Kevin Spacey Allegations Timeline Former Boston television anchor Heather Unruh said Spacey had assaulted her 18-year-old son at a bar in Nantucket in 2016.3NBC News. Kevin Spacey Controversies
London’s Old Vic Theatre, where Spacey was artistic director from 2004 to 2015, hired the firm Lewis Silkin to investigate. Its November 16, 2017 report collected 20 personal testimonies alleging behavior ranging from making people uncomfortable to sexually inappropriate conduct. Sixteen complainants were former staff, all male, and more than half of the reported incidents allegedly took place inside the theater. The report concluded Spacey had “operated without sufficient accountability.”4BBC. Old Vic Kevin Spacey Investigation Findings
Spacey’s response accelerated the fallout. On October 30, 2017, he said he did not remember the Rapp encounter but offered his “sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior” if it had happened, and in the same statement publicly confirmed he is gay.5Time. Kevin Spacey Anthony Rapp Statement GLAAD’s then-CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said, “Coming-out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault.” Actors Billy Eichner, Zachary Quinto, and Rose McGowan were among those who criticized the pairing.6Variety. Kevin Spacey Defends Coming Out Gay Sexual Misconduct At his 2023 London trial, Spacey said he understood why the statement read as deflection and blamed pressure from his team to respond fast.
The Jobs He Lost Right Away
Netflix suspended production on the sixth season of House of Cards on October 30, 2017, after only two of a planned 13 episodes had been filmed. Following further accusations from crew members, Netflix severed ties with Spacey. Producer Media Rights Capital shut production down so writers could rebuild the final season around Robin Wright’s Claire Underwood. It was shortened to eight episodes, and Spacey was written out.7The Hollywood Reporter. Robin Wright Kevin Spacey House of Cards Final Season
Ridley Scott had already finished shooting All the Money in the World when the allegations broke. He replaced Spacey as J. Paul Getty with Christopher Plummer, a decision he said took “about 20 minutes.” The production reshot 22 scenes over nine 18-hour days in London and Rome, adding $10 million to a $40 million budget. Where crews could not return to original locations, Plummer was filmed against green screens and composited in.8NPR. All the Money Re-Shoot Was Decided in a Heartbeat Ridley Scott Says9The Hollywood Reporter. Ridley Scott Reveals How Kevin Spacey Was Erased From All the Money in the World Co-star Michelle Williams came back for reshoots without additional pay.10ABC News. All the Money in the World Director Ridley Scott on Kevin Spacey The film opened on Christmas Day 2017.
The Criminal Cases
Nantucket
In December 2018, Spacey was charged with one felony count of indecent assault and battery over the alleged 2016 groping of an 18-year-old busboy at the Club Car bar in Nantucket. The accuser was Heather Unruh’s son. Spacey pleaded not guilty in January 2019.11CBS News. Kevin Spacey Nantucket Assault Charge Case
The case collapsed over the accuser’s cellphone. At a July 2019 evidentiary hearing, he invoked the Fifth rather than answer questions about deleted text messages. Prosecutors also learned that his mother had deleted content from the phone before turning it over to police, and the lead investigator sat on that admission for months. The phone was later deemed “irretrievably lost.”12ABC News. Sex Assault Charges Dropped Against Actor Kevin Spacey On July 17, 2019, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe dropped the case citing the “unavailability of the complaining witness.”13NPR. Prosecutors Drop Criminal Charges Against Actor Kevin Spacey in Sexual Assault Case
London
UK prosecutors charged Spacey in May 2022 with four counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. In November 2022 came seven more counts involving one adult male complainant for incidents allegedly between 2001 and 2004.3NBC News. Kevin Spacey Controversies At Southwark Crown Court on July 26, 2023, after roughly 12 hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted him on all nine counts.14NPR. Kevin Spacey Sexual Assault Trial Verdict London
Cases That Never Went to Trial
The Los Angeles District Attorney declined a 1992 allegation because of the statute of limitations.15ABC News. Rise and Fall of Kevin Spacey Timeline A separate LA criminal investigation was dropped after the anonymous massage therapist behind a 2016 federal civil suit died in September 2019; prosecutors said the “allegations cannot be proved without participation of the victim,” and the civil case was dismissed with prejudice that December. Ari Behn, a Norwegian writer and former son-in-law of the King of Norway who had alleged Spacey sexually harassed him after a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize concert, died by suicide in December 2019.16Los Angeles Times. Kevin Spacey Sexual Assault Case Dismissed
The Civil Cases
Rapp and a second accuser identified as “C.D.” sued Spacey in federal court in New York in September 2020, alleging assault, battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. C.D. was removed after a judge ruled he would need to identify himself publicly. Rapp’s remaining battery claim went to trial before Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in October 2022. After a three-week trial the jury deliberated just over an hour before finding that Rapp had not proven Spacey touched “a sexual or intimate part” of him. No damages.17Variety. Kevin Spacey Anthony Rapp Loses $40 Million Sexual Battery Lawsuit18PBS NewsHour. Jury Concludes Kevin Spacey Didn’t Molest Actor Anthony Rapp in 1986
Three British men filed separate civil claims in London’s High Court. LNP alleged 12 assaults between 2000 and 2005. GHI alleged an assault in 2008 with psychiatric damage and financial loss. Actor Ruari Cannon alleged Spacey groped him at a party in 2013 following the press night of Sweet Bird of Youth. Two of the three had testified as complainants at Spacey’s 2023 criminal trial.19NBC News. Kevin Spacey Settles UK Civil Lawsuits Alleged Sexual Assault A three-week civil trial had been scheduled for October 2026. In March 2026, Spacey reached a confidential out-of-court settlement with all three, and a court order dated March 13, 2026 stayed the proceedings. Cannon separately settled with the Old Vic around the same time.20Deadline. Kevin Spacey Settles Sexual Assault Accusers London Trial Spacey has called the claims “ridiculous” and denied all of them.21BBC. Kevin Spacey Settles With Three Men
The House of Cards Arbitration
MRC pursued arbitration, arguing Spacey’s conduct toward crew across all five seasons violated the show’s anti-harassment policy and his contractual obligation to work professionally. After 20 depositions and eight days of hearings, a JAMS arbitrator awarded MRC roughly $31 million: $29.5 million in damages, $1.2 million in attorneys’ fees, and $235,000 in costs. A three-member JAMS panel affirmed. In August 2022, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mel Red Recana confirmed the ruling.22CNBC. Kevin Spacey Ordered to Pay Netflix Show Studio Over Misconduct23NBC News. Kevin Spacey Ordered to Pay $31M to House of Cards Makers
Spacey later cut a deal with MRC in late 2023 that reduced his own $31 million liability to $1 million in exchange for handing over medical records and testifying as MRC’s witness in its suit against insurer Fireman’s Fund.24Deadline. Kevin Spacey Loses Arbitration House of Cards MRC At that Santa Monica trial, Spacey testified he had been “available, willing and able” to work.25Deadline. House of Cards Trial Verdict Kevin Spacey In late March 2026, the jury sided with the insurer, finding the losses were caused by media fallout, not covered “sickness.”26The Hollywood Reporter. House of Cards Spacey Trial Final Season
New Allegations After the Acquittals
In May 2024, Channel 4 in the UK aired Spacey Unmasked, a two-part documentary directed by Katherine Haywood featuring 10 men alleging unwanted sexual behavior by Spacey across five decades, from his high school years through House of Cards. All but one had never spoken publicly before. One aspiring actor said Spacey masturbated next to him during a screening of Saving Private Ryan and later implied career consequences if he did not participate. A House of Cards crew member said Spacey touched his genitals on set. A former classmate said Spacey grabbed his genitals in high school.27Los Angeles Times. Kevin Spacey Unmasked Channel 4 Max House of Cards Allegations Spacey did not participate, saying Channel 4 gave him only seven days to respond to claims spanning 48 years. He later called some past interactions “clumsy” but not criminal, and pointed to his acquittals. Haywood said that while Spacey may not face criminal liability for all the described behavior, “it’s not morally or ethically acceptable.”28The Hollywood Reporter. Kevin Spacey Unmasked Documentary Director Response
His Financial Situation
In a June 2024 interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Spacey said he had no money. His Baltimore home, where he had lived since 2016, had been foreclosed and sold at auction. He owed “many millions” in legal fees and said he had been “on the brink of bankruptcy” but had “managed to dodge it.”29The Hollywood Reporter. Kevin Spacey Lost Home Dodging Bankruptcy Sexual Misconduct In a late 2025 interview with The Telegraph, he said he was living out of suitcases in hotels and Airbnbs while taking whatever work he could find, including performing as a lounge singer in Cyprus. He later posted a video clarifying he was not “homeless in the colloquial sense” but “going where the work is,” as he had early in his career.30Deadline. Kevin Spacey Homeless Hotel Airbnb Singer Cyprus
Where He Works Now
Since the acquittals, Spacey has appeared in a handful of low-budget independent films, including Peter Five Eight, The Awakening, 1780, and The Man Who Drew God, an Italian production directed by Franco Nero. Spacey credits Nero for having the “guts” to cast him when no one else would.31Deadline. Kevin Spacey Comeback Plans Forgives Doubters These projects have no reported significant box-office returns or mainstream distribution.
Parts of Europe have been warmer. He received a lifetime achievement award from the Turin Film Museum in 2023, a Nations Award in Taormina in 2024, and a Maximo Excellence Award at the inaugural Italian Global Series Festival in June 2025, presented by Italy’s Undersecretary of Culture.32Deadline. Kevin Spacey Italian Global Series Festival Award Speech Some of the honors were hosted by organizations with no formal ties to the major film festivals in whose orbit they operated.33Variety. Kevin Spacey Italian Global Series Award Franco Nero At an Oxford University event organized by British writer Douglas Murray in October 2023 to discuss “cancel culture,” Spacey performed a scene from Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens and received a standing ovation.34Rolling Stone. Kevin Spacey Cancel Culture Event Performance Standing Ovation In November 2025, he performed a one-man show, “Songs & Stories,” at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv, singing jazz standards with a five-piece band to a mostly full room.35The Jerusalem Post. Kevin Spacey Songs and Stories Tel Aviv
Mainstream Hollywood has not followed. The Prince Charles Cinema in London canceled the premiere of Spacey’s film Control after learning of his involvement, with the theater’s operator saying staff were “horrified” to be associated with the project.36Los Angeles Times. Kevin Spacey Oxford Performance Standing Ovation Cancel Culture Event In a June 2026 interview on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, Spacey said he felt “much more welcomed” and that “things are moving in the direction that we hoped.” Maher was broadly sympathetic but told him “there’s too much smoke to be no fire” and called the years of professional exile “a 10-year sentence.”37Variety. Kevin Spacey Career Rebounding Sexual Assault Allegations Bill Maher Spacey continues to deny all allegations and says he expects a major director will eventually cast him again.31Deadline. Kevin Spacey Comeback Plans Forgives Doubters