Los Angeles: Following Anthony Rapp’s claims that he was subjected to an unwanted sexual advance by Kevin Spacey, Mexican actor Roberto Cavazos has accused the “House of Cards” star of harassment.
In a lengthy Facebook post, the 35-year-old actor claimed that he was abused by the veteran actor when the latter was the director of London’s Old Vic Theater.
“I myself had a couple of unpleasant encounters with Spacey that were on the edge of being called harassment.
Moreover, had I been a woman, I probably would not have hesitated to identify it as such, but I suppose that the lack of a more specifically direct or aggressive action led me to justify the incident as ‘one of those things’. There are many of us who have a ‘Kevin Spacey story’.”
Spacey served the office for a period of full ten years from 2004.
Cavazos likened the Oscar-winning actor to Harvey Weinstein, saying he would not be surprised if his victims “were (in) numbers similar” to the disgraced media mogul.
He said like the producer, the 58-year-old actor also has a pattern of orchestrating his move, targeting especially “a male under 30”.
The actor said several people had told him about the encounters they had with Spacey, where he invited them to meet him to “talk about their careers.”
“When they arrived at the theater, the gentleman had prepared a picnic with champagne on the stage, beautifully lit. Each story varied in how far the picnic came, but the technique was the same. More common was that the man was in the bar of his theater, squeezing whoever caught his attention. That’s how it happened to me the second time.”
In his post, Cavazos also claimed that such behaviour is common around the world, but it is “appalauded” in Mexican theatre.
“That it seems perfectly valid to ask their actresses how their sex life is going or openly play (with) their students in front of the rest of the class, ask them to get undressed in the admission exams to one of the most respected theatre schools in the country,” he said.
In statement to Deadline, the theater expressed “deep dismay” at sexual assault allegations against Spacey.
“Inappropriate behaviour by anyone working at The Old Vic is completely unacceptable… We want our employees to feel confident, valued and proud to be part of The Old Vic family.”
Post the scandal, Spacey will not be honoured with an upcoming Emmy as announced earlier and “House of Cards” is also set to end with season six. (PTI)
