--- description: Actor Anthony Rapp alleged Kevin Spacey made a sexual advance toward him in 1986, when he was 14. title: Anthony Rapp Shares Why He Opened Up About Kevin Spacey image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltace611644ca16278/6988f71ffb4eac397a8952cd/anthony-rapp.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Hollywood](/tag/hollywood/) ## Hollywood Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'There Is Strength in Numbers': Anthony Rapp Shares Why He Opened Up About Kevin Spacey by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 4, 2018 7:55 PM CUT  Anthony Rapp attends "Star Trek: Discovery" during the PaleyFest NY 2017 at The Paley Center for Media on October 7, 2017 in New York City. Anthony Rapp attends "Star Trek: Discovery" during the PaleyFest NY 2017 at The Paley Center for Media on October 7, 2017 in New York City.Steve Mac—WireImage by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 4, 2018 7:55 PM CUT Actor Anthony Rapp said he came forward to accuse Kevin Spacey of making sexual advances toward him when he was a teenager because he was inspired by the many women who have opened up over the last few months in the wake of the allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Harvey Weinstein. In an [interview](http://variety.com/2018/film/news/anthony-rapp-kevin-spacey-sexual-misconduct-abuse-culture-1202653164/ "undefined") with the British magazine _Attitude_, Rapp, currently starring on _Star Trek: Discovery_, said the culture of silence around sexual harassment is going away as more people speak out. “In this moment, with what’s happened, it’s become clear that people can be believed and that it can have an impact,” he said. “The entire apparatus that kept people silent and also kept \[those guilty of harassment\] safe is being dismantled.” Rapp in October told [Buzzfeed](https://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/anthony-rapp-kevin-spacey-made-sexual-advance-when-i-was-14?utm%5Fterm=.rsBndp3wX#.arblj5zNX "undefined") that he attended a party at Spacey’s apartment in 1986, when he was 14\. Spacey, 26 at the time, took him to his bed at the end of the party and climbed on top of him, Rapp said. Spacey responded to Rapp’s allegation with a [widely criticized](http://time.com/5002161/kevin-spacey-coming-out-anthony-rapp/ "undefined") statement confirming publicly for the first time that the now 58-year-old actor is gay. He said he did not recall the specific encounter with Rapp. Further [allegations against Spacey](http://time.com/5027142/kevin-spacey-accused-old-vic-theater/ "undefined") have come out following Rapp’s initial interview with Buzzfeed, including eight of Spacey’s former _House of Cards_ colleagues telling CNN that the star [created a “toxic” work environmen](http://ew.com/tv/2017/11/02/netflix-addresses-new-kevin-spacey-sexual-misconduct-allegations/ "undefined")t through sexual harassment and “predatory” behavior. Netflix [dropped Spacey](http://ew.com/tv/2017/11/02/netflix-addresses-new-kevin-spacey-sexual-misconduct-allegations/ "undefined") from _House of Cards_ in November, and Christopher Plummer [replaced the actor](http://time.com/5067112/christopher-plummer-all-the-money-in-the-world/ "undefined") in Ridley Scott’s latest film _All the Money in the World._ Rapp said he hoped the effect of opening up about his experiences inspires other victims to come forward. “There is no such thing as truly being alone, which is what I hope this moment demonstrates, that there is strength in numbers,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5088481/anthony-rapp-kevin-spacey-sexual-misconduct/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5088481/anthony-rapp-kevin-spacey-sexual-misconduct/"},"headline":"'There Is Strength in Numbers': Anthony Rapp Shares Why He Opened Up About Kevin Spacey","datePublished":"2018-01-04T19:55:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:45:14.316Z","description":"He was inspired by the women who spoke out about harassment experiences","url":"https://time.com/5088481/anthony-rapp-kevin-spacey-sexual-misconduct/","keywords":["Hollywood","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltace611644ca16278/6988f71ffb4eac397a8952cd/anthony-rapp.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltace611644ca16278/6988f71ffb4eac397a8952cd/anthony-rapp.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"PaleyFest NY 2017 - \"Star Trek: Discovery\"","caption":"PaleyFest NY 2017 - \"Star Trek: Discovery\"","creditText":"Steve Mac—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/hollywood/","name":"Hollywood"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5088481/anthony-rapp-kevin-spacey-sexual-misconduct/","name":"'There Is Strength in Numbers': Anthony Rapp Shares Why He Opened Up About Kevin Spacey"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Person of the Year 2017: The Silence Breakers","description":"For giving voice to open secrets, for moving whisper networks onto social networks, for pushing all of us to stop accepting the unacceptable, the Silence Breakers are the 2017 Person of the Year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jbtW5SvJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-12-06T12:11:05.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jbtW5SvJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5088481/anthony-rapp-kevin-spacey-sexual-misconduct/","duration":"PT5M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5088481/anthony-rapp-kevin-spacey-sexual-misconduct/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```