While a recent allegation of sexual impropriety against Kevin Spacey has helped bring about the end of Netflix’s “House of Cards,” the political drama will sire some spinoff programs, Variety reported Monday.
The Hollywood trade magazine said three potential shows are in the works, with the most developed concept so far centering around Michael Kelly’s character Doug Stamper, the fiercely loyal, murderous right-hand man to Mr. Spacey’s Frank Underwood character.
While Monday’s bombshell allegation against Mr. Spacey by Broadway actor Anthony Rapp, who was a teenager at the time of the alleged misconduct, pushed “House of Cards” producers to say the show’s next season, currently in production, would be its last, “[s]ources close to the production say that season six had [already] been intended as the final installment of the show,” Variety said.
Seeking to tamp down the controversy, Mr. Spacey only stoked the fury further with his apology, in which the 58-year-old actor formally came out of the closet as a gay man and said while he doesn’t remember the encounter, he was sorry for “what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”
“Nope to Kevin Spacey’s statement. Nope,” tweeted sex columnist and gay-rights activist Dan Savage. “There’s no amount of drunk or closeted that excuses or explains away assaulting a 14-year-old child.”
“Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before:” quipped comedian Billy Eichner, “a bad time to come out.”
“Kevin Spacey’s coming-out statement uses the gay community as a flak jacket for his own image,” agreed Slate magazine, linking to a piece by XX Factor columnist Christina Cauterucci blasting the two-time Oscar winning actor.
“His statement cheapens the bold, political act of a public coming-out, using a seeming admission of vulnerability as a weapon against the vulnerable,” Ms. Cauterucci concluded.
Mr. Rapp’s allegation against Mr. Spacey comes as former child actor Corey Feldman alleges that the sexual exploitation of minors is rampant in Hollywood. Mr. Feldman is currently working to raise money for a documentary film project he says will expose the industry’s offenders, although skeptical journalists have pointed out Mr. Feldman previously made similar claims prior to the publication of a 2013 memoir, which failed to name names.
Even so, the extent to which child actors, especially young boys, are sexually exploited or harassed by adults in the industry could be the next shoe to drop, thanks to fresh scrutiny on Hollywood in light of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
“It’s a pervasive problem in Hollywood,” Toni Jaramilla, a Los Angeles attorney specializing in sexual harassment suits, told The Guardian newspaper. “The common challenge is the fear of not being believed and the fear of having the situation turned around against them, to suggest that they are instigating it, or they are finding opportunities to sleep their way into a role.”
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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