Gay magazine knew about Kevin Spacey sex abuse allegations, didn’t name him
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The former editor of a US gay magazine has admitted that it chose not to name Kevin Spacey as an alleged sex abuser more than a decade ago.
House of Cards star Keven Spacey confirmed that he is gay for the first time earlier this week following allegations he made sexual advances on a teenage boy in the 1980s.
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Star Trek star Anthony Rapp claimed that when he was 14, Spacey invited him to a party at his New York apartment, and while drunk, tried to seduce him by climbing on top of him.
(Photo by Best Buddies via Getty Images)
But although Spacey was named publicly for the first time, Rapp has made the allegations on a number of occasions previously.
Rapp spoke about the incident in an interview with gay magazine The Advocate back in 2001, but the magazine chose not to name Spacey because it had a policy banning the ‘outing’ of gay celebrities who were in the closet.
Bruce Steele, the former editor of Out Magazine and The Advocate, wrote a piece for USA Today in which he made the admission.
He wrote: “Behind the scenes, I had long known Spacey was gay, or at least bisexual, in part because my friend Anthony Rapp had told me his story of a sexual pass Spacey made at him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was about 26.
“Rapp told me that in the mid 1990s, and we even printed his account of the encounter in The Advocate in 2001, with Spacey’s name redacted.”
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He explained: “The Advocate had developed a “no outing” policy before I joined the staff, and we stuck to it. We cajoled, befriended and pressured, but we did not report on anyone’s sexuality without their cooperation.
“Just as each of us had reached the decision to come out in our own time, celebrities needed the same opportunity, even if it took them years and years.”
The former editor continued: “Of course, many close friends knew of Rapp’s encounter with the actor in the 1980s, including some of us in the media. But what could be done with that story?
“There were only two people in the room, they had never met again and no parade of additional accusers was forthcoming — so, right or wrong, we told ourselves we could not report it.
“In keeping with The Advocate’s ‘no outing’ policy, when Rapp related the entire incident to writer Dennis Hensley in 2001, we removed Spacey’s name and identifying details.
“Rapp understood the decision, and he didn’t share the story again via the news media until now.”
He added: “What Rapp’s revelation and Spacey’s response prove is that even one person, with the story of one night, can make a difference. I will long ponder what we didn’t do in 2001, I hope with concrete results about what we can do in 2017.”
Since Rapp’s allegations, a string of other men have made allegations against Spacey.
A teenager today claimed that Spacey exposed his penis to him, before giving him his £5,000 watch as a bribe to stay quiet.
Daniel Beal, who was a 19-year-old barman in 2010, said the two-time Oscar winner approached him on his smoke break and showed him his penis.
Dan Beal in 2010 (Facebook/dan beal)
He then asked the teenager: “It’s big, isn’t it?” before trying to get him to touch it, Beal said.
The actor then insisted that Beal accept his IWC Portofino watch, worth thousands of pounds, for Dan’s £20 plastic Casio.
Dan Beal (Facebook/dan beal)
Beal, who accused Spacey of “grooming,” said he thought the actor “was joking, but he took off his watch and gave it to me.
“Looking back, I realise it was to keep me quiet,” he told The Sun.
Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, the maximum sentence for exposure in the UK is two years in prison.
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After this story broke, filmmaker Tony Montana accused Spacey of sexually assaulting him in 2003, saying: “He put his hand on my crotch forcefully and grabbed my whole package.”
After this story broke, filmmaker Tony Montana accused Spacey of sexually assaulting him in 2003, saying: “He put his hand on my crotch forcefully and grabbed my whole package.”
Tony Montana (YouTube/tony montana)
Montana, whose film Overnight was an Official Selection of the Sundance Film Festival, said Spacey – who he recalled seemed to be drunk – then told him: “This designates ownership.”
The filmmaker, who was in his 30s, had to physically get Spacey off him and had PTSD for six months after the incident, he said.
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In his allegations, Beal said Spacey repeatedly acted inappropriately with him while he was working at the bar in West Sussex, in the south of England.
“Every time I tried to give him a drink he’d touch my hand in a weird way. He was drinking more and more — he got through a bottle of Jack Daniels,” he said.
Dan Beal (Facebook/dan beal)
Beal claimed that the actor, who was the artistic director at London’s Old Vic theatre at the time, followed him outside on one smoke break to ask: “Do you smoke weed?”
He alleged that when he asked Spacey why, the Hollywood star said: “I’ve got loads in my room. Come back to my room.”
Beal turned down the offer, but Spacey came up to him on his next smoke break while he was sitting on a bench outside, he said.
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“Before I had a chance to do anything, he got his dick out,” Beal claimed.
“I said: ‘What the f*** are you doing?’
“He said: ‘It’s big, isn’t it?’ He leaned over and tried to pull my hand towards it. I went back inside,” Beal alleged.
Dan Beal (Facebook/dan beal)
“Looking back, he was trying to manipulate me from the moment he walked into the bar.
“In hindsight, that must have been grooming. He was just like his character in House Of Cards – seedy and a bit weird,” Beal claimed.
He sold the watch for £3,200 the next day, but that wasn’t the last he heard of Spacey.
Dan Beal (Facebook/dan beal)
“All my friends were telling me to keep it. But I felt dirty wearing it,” he said.
The Usual Suspects star’s aides rang asking Beal for the watch back – and allegedly made a complaint to his employer when he said he lost it.
Then, weeks later, Beal received a call from someone claiming to be Spacey.
Kevin Spacey and Laura Dern (Getty)
“He said: ‘What you up to? I’m in London for a few days. Do you want to do something?’”
Beal said he hung up and never spoke publicly about the incidents – until events this week convinced him.
“The new revelations about Spacey convinced me I should speak out. People should know that he is a creep,” Beal said.
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The International TV Academy yesterday withdrew an honour it was due to give Spacey.
The American Beauty actor was due to be handed the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award in three weeks, on November 20, at a glamorous event in New York.
In the wake of the allegations and Spacey’s response, Netflix also announced that House of Cards would be ending after its sixth season.
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A representative for Netflix said on Monday that the streaming company was “deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey.”
And Netflix announced yesterday that it was suspending production on the show’s sixth season.
