Zachary Quinto, George Takei Join Critics of Kevin Spacey Merging Apology and Coming Out

Zachary Quinto calls it a “calculated manipulation to deflect attention”

anthony rapp kevin spacey
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Jennifer Maas

“Star Trek” alums Zachary Quinto and George Takei have joined the ranks of LGBT activists condemning Kevin Spacey’s decision to come out as gay at the same time he apologized to “Star Trek: Discovery” star Anthony Rapp, who accuses Spacey of making a sexual advance on him when he was 14.

Spacey was criticized Sunday night by many — including columnist Dan Savage, actor Billy Eichner, and journalist Frank Rich — for linking two things that have nothing to do with each other.

“It is deeply sad and troubling that this is how Kevin Spacey has chosen to come out,” Quinto wrote in a message posted on Twitter. “Not by standing up as a point of pride — in the light of all his many awards and accomplishments — thus inspiring tens of thousands of struggling LGBTQ kids around the world. But as a calculated manipulation to deflect attention from the very serious accusation that he attempted to molest one.”

“I am sorry to hear of Anthony Rapp’s experience and subsequent suffering,” Quinto continued. “And I am sorry that Kevin only saw fit to acknowledge his truth when he though it would serve him — just as his denial served him for so many years. May Anthony Rapp’s voice be the one which is amplified here. Victim’s voices are the ones that deserve to be heard.”

“The timing of this announcement has raised some eyebrows, to be sure,” George Takei wrote. The original “Star Trek” TV series star also made a longer statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

“When power is used in a non-consensual situation, it is a wrong,” Takei said. “For Anthony Rapp, he has had to live with the memory of this experience of decades ago. For Kevin Spacey, who claims not to remember the incident, he was the older, dominant one who had his way. Men who improperly harass or assault do not do so because they are gay or straight — that is a deflection. They do so because they have the power, and they chose to abuse it.”

Rapp posed his accusations against Spacey in an interview with BuzzFeed published Sunday. He said in 1986, the then-26-year-old actor invited him to a party, laid him on his bed, then climbed on top of him and before making unwanted sexual advances until Rapp was able to “squirm” away.

“I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago,” Spacey said in a message posted on Twitter. “But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years,” Spacey wrote.

Spacey then included his coming-out announcement, after saying he knew there were “stories out there about me and that some have been fueled by the fact that I have been so protective of my privacy.”

The day after Rapp’s allegations were made public and Spacey’s apology issued, Netflix and show producer Media Right Capital announced “House of Cards” will come to an end after its upcoming sixth season. The companies said they are “deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey.”

Here are the tweets:

https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/924866515140268032

https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/924860283952046080

https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/924973415693475840

https://twitter.com/LanceBass/status/925065629324812288

Jennifer Maas

Jennifer Maas

TV Reporter • jennifer.maas@thewrap.com • Twitter: @jmaasaronson

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