This was not a good week for Kevin Spacey. It hasn’t been a particularly good decade for the film legend, but being ordered by a judge to pay $31 million to House of Cards producers for the costs involved in having him removed from the Netflix show is not something you see very often.
Spacey was embroiled in sexual misconduct allegations, and entertainment company MRC said that’s how much they lost in revenue and added costs.
This has been a drawn-out process. Spacey had appealed the arbitration award earlier in the year. His lawyers contended that there was no misconduct. Instead, it was little more than “sexual innuendos” and “innocent horseplay.” The judge in Los Angeles saw it as something else and denied the request.
Spacey was taken out of season six of the once popular drama, and the season was trimmed from 13 episodes to eight.
The PA news agency got their hands on the original filings of this suit, and there’s some intense detail about the allegations against Spacey. It alleged the star was “systematically preying upon, sexually harassing, and groping young men that he had worked with throughout his career on film, television, and theatre projects.”
House of Cards had such a promising start. Season 1 was outstanding, as Spacey played a ruthless South Carolina congressman, but the show quickly went downhill, never being able to match the drama of the inaugural season that made it a must watch.
There’s more trouble brewing for Spacey in 2023. He’s scheduled to go on trial for sexual assault charges dating back 17 years.
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