Kevin Spacey turned the set of “House of Cards” into a sick, sexual playground — where he used to harass and abuse young staffers, a report says.
Eight people who currently work on the show or worked on it in the past have come forward and accused the Oscar-winning actor of misconduct, with at least one person claiming he was sexually assaulted.
They spoke to CNN on Thursday and detailed Spacey’s alleged actions.
“I have no doubt that this type of predatory behavior was routine for him,” explained a former production assistant, who chose to remain anonymous, as did the others.
“It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors,” he said.
The individual described one incident in which Spacey unabashedly grabbed his crotch while they were driving to the set of the flagship Netflix show.
“I was in a state of shock,” he said. “[Spacey] was a man in a very powerful position on the show and I was someone very low on the totem pole and on the food chain there.”
While the production assistant refused to specifically say what happened next, out of fear of being identified, he did talk about an encounter he and Spacey had a short time later — not long after they arrived on set.
The man remembered how Spacey had asked him to help bring some belongings to his trailer, which he did. Once inside, the movie star allegedly made his move — cornering him and blocking the exit — while inappropriately touching him at the same time.
“I told him, ‘I don’t think I’m OK with this, I don’t think I’m comfortable with this,'” the former assistant said, noting how Spacey became “visibly flustered” before eventually fleeing the trailer.
The incident was never officially reported, but the worker did tell a colleague, who was able to corroborate his allegations. It came just months after he complained to a supervisor about Spacey sexually harassing him, though nothing major was ever done.
The other people who worked on “House of Cards” outlined several other incidents that took place while working with Spacey.
One crew member who was on the set for all six seasons claimed the actor touched and harassed him on a regular basis.
“He would put his hands on me in weird ways,” they said. “He would come in and massage my shoulders from behind or put his hands around me or touch my stomach sometimes in weird ways that in normal everyday conversation would not be appropriate.”
This crew member said he did not “feel comfortable” telling Spacey to stop — or coming forward with his story at first — because he was worried about being blacklisted.
“That’s the worst part about this whole thing,” he said. “I would love to be able to speak out about this kind of stuff and not fear.”
The new allegations come just days after Spacey was publicly accused of sexual misconduct by actor Anthony Rapp in a BuzzFeed News article. The “Star Trek” star was only 14 at the time of the alleged incident.
Netflix told CNN in a statement Thursday that it had sent a representative to the set of “House of Cards” to speak to the cast and crew about the Spacey scandal, but the company said it wasn’t aware of the newest accusations.
“Netflix was just made aware of one incident, five years ago, that we were informed was resolved swiftly,” the statement said. “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.”