It’s been an intense afternoon in the part of culture concentrated around actor Kevin Spacey. Just this afternoon, he was accused by Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp of making unwanted – and persistent – sexual advances on him when Rapp was only 14.
Then, only hours after the story broke, Spacey saw fit to respond to the allegations by publicly coming out for the first time as a gay man.
While his statement included an apology of sorts, if you’re feeling a little cynical about Spacey’s well-timed bombshell – welp, you wouldn’t be alone.
Dozens of celebrities, including many openly gay actors and personalities, have taken to Twitter to condemn Spacey for what many are seeing as trivializing pedophilia and using his sexuality to excuse his past actions. Yet more have revealed that rumours about Spacey’s pursuit of underage boys have been rife for years.
Nope to Kevin Spacey’s statement. Nope. There’s no amount of drunk or closeted that excuses or explains away assaulting a 14-year-old child.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) October 30, 2017
That Kevin Spacey statement. Nope. Absolutely not. Nope.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 30, 2017
Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/ShanelleLittle/status/924861581577502720
https://twitter.com/blainejerrdan/status/924860901831987200
Kevin Spacey doesn’t remember specifically trying to rape a child but maybe he did. That’s the exuse here. Wow. https://t.co/ohMySexbbx
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) October 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/fivefifths/status/924857613451378689
https://twitter.com/lindseyweber/status/924853609820540928
https://twitter.com/dreamoforgonon/status/924830987955122176
https://twitter.com/calvinstowell/status/924850171732688896
https://twitter.com/JoshNoneYaBiz/status/924853332337938432
https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/924819791231234048
Choosing to deflect from such a huge allegation as attempting to seduce a child by suddenly stepping out of the closet sure seems like a morally reprehensible strategy – especially considering the fact that homophobes continue to attempt to draw connections between homosexuality and child molestation in their crusade to deny gay people fundamental rights.
So basically: not cool, Spacey. Not fucking cool at all.