In the midst of the growing controversy surrounding actor Kevin Spacey, who has now been accused by multiple people of sexual misconduct, CNN Money is reporting that a number of people who worked on the set of Netflix‘s House of Cards are also making allegations of sexual harassment.
These allegations include a production assistant who told CNN that Spacey sexually assaulted him. The assistant, who remains unnamed, alleges that Spacey put his hand down his pants while he drove the actor to the House of Cards set, before sexually propositioning him in his trailer.
The assistant says he did not report this incident to the police, but did describe it to a fellow employee. Speaking to CNN, he said that he had reported incidents of sexual harassment involving Spacey at an earlier point:
I have no doubt that this type of predatory behaviour was routine for him and that my experience was one of many and that Kevin had few if any qualms about exploiting his status and position. It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors.
Other crew members say that Spacey routinely harassed them and touched them inappropriately, including unwanted backrubs and inappropriate conversations. Several told CNN that they did not speak out for fear of reprisal.
“That’s the worst part about this whole thing,” one crew member said. “I would love to be able to speak out about this kind of stuff and not fear.”
Netflix issued a statement in response to the new allegations published by CNN:
Netflix was just made aware of one incident, five years ago, that we were informed was resolved swiftly,. On Tuesday, in collaboration with MRC, we suspended production, knowing that Kevin Spacey wasn’t scheduled to work until Wednesday. Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set. We continue to collaborate with MRC and other production partners to maintain a safe and respectful working environment. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the production, and have nothing further to share at this time.
Read the full report over at CNN Money.
