After years of legal battles and being largely sidelined by the entertainment industry, Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey believes the tide may finally be turning. The actor has said he is feeling increasingly hopeful about reviving his career, revealing that he now feels “welcomed” back in Hollywood after years of facing sexual abuse and harassment allegations.
Kevin Spacey on return to Hollywood
Kevin looked back at the allegations while talking to Bill Maher in the latest episode of the comedian’s Club Random podcast. He responded to claims made by Bill about there being “too much smoke to be no fire” when referring to the number of accusations leveled against the 66-year-old actor since 2017.
Kevin noted that he had won “in every court we’ve gone into with a jury”, saying, “I feel much more welcomed, and I think that things are moving in the direction that we hoped they were moving in… There are certain cases where part of something is true, but it’s been rethought, it’s been redesigned, or it’s been entirely made up, certainly in the case of Anthony Rapp, which is a case that we won in federal court in New York.”
The actor shared that he never said there was no fire, adding that “it just wasn’t a raging forest fire”. He called it a “small kitchen fire that could have been put out with an extinguisher”, and admitted that he hit on a lot of guys.
According to Kevin, Hollywood’s starting to feel like home again. He said, “Well, I feel less in (show business) jail than I did… When people actually start to hear the facts, understand what we won in courts, I think people now look at this and think, maybe nine years has been enough. If I had been a sports figure I would have been benched for seven games. If you’re hitting home runs, they want you on the field.”
More about Kevin Spacey
In 2017, sexual misconduct allegations surfaced involving the Oscar winner from actor Anthony Rapp dating back to 1986. Anthony was 14 at the time of the alleged incident, and Kevin was 26.
At that time, Kevin took to social media to respond to the allegations, writing, “I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years.” The actor also came out as gay in response to the allegations.
Following the allegations, the actor was fired from Netflix’s House of Cards. He was also dropped from All The Money In The World, which was already filmed, and replaced by Christopher Plummer with reshoots of Kevin’s scenes. In 2020, Anthony and another man sued Kevin for sexual assault in the 1980s. The actor was found not liable for battery against Anthony by a jury in 2022.
In May 2024, Liam Neeson, Sharon Stone, F. Murray Abraham, and Stephen Fry voiced their support for him in statements shared with The Telegraph. Brian Cox told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2024 that Kevin had been punished enough. In 2025, Kevin was the guest of honour at the Better World Fund’s gala dinner during the Cannes Film Festival, where he was recognised with the lifetime achievement award for “excellence in film and television”.