Kevin Spacey, whose alleged sex crimes are the subject of a new two-part documentary “Spacey Unmasked” that debuts Monday on Max, said he had planned to come out as gay quite differently than the way it actually happened.
In a video shared to YouTube on Friday, British podcaster Dan Wootton asked Spacey about the “infamous” coming-out statement he made in 2017 after being accused of sexual assault by actor Anthony Rapp when the “Rent” star was a minor.
“Oh you mean when I tripped over my hockey stick and came tumbling out of the closet?” replied Spacey who admitted it wasn’t “the most graceful” way to go about it.
“It was was terribly timed and thought out,” he said, explaining that he’d been working with manager Evan Lowenstein on “finding a way out of the closet.”
Added the actor, “But after being fiercely closeted for so long I had no idea what awaited me on the side of that door so, we were looking for a subtle way in which to be able to reveal myself without making too much of a big deal about it.”
In 2016, when he was nominated for a lead actor Emmy for “the eighth or ninth time,” Lowenstein came up with the “brilliant idea” for the actor to reveal his preference for men while holding the Emmy, if he won.
“The Emmy is a female statue, it’s not like the Oscar or the or the Tony, which are male statues which I have been fortunate to have won,” said Spacey. “I would take a hold of the trophy and look at it briefly and then say, ‘It sure is nice to hold a woman for a change.’ Unfortunately, I didn’t win the Emmy in 2016 or in 2017.”
The Rapp allegations came shortly after the 2017 Emmys ceremony. “Against better advice from Evan and others, I decided to come crashing out of the
closet, because I’d already made the decision to come out,” said Spacey.
He added, “Of course I’m so ignorant about all things gay that the only thing that occurs to selfish me is that some guy is accusing me of something and so I’m being outed.”
Spacey’s other coming-out plan revolved around a never-released Netflix biopic about late writer and actor Gore Vidal, who was openly gay. “This was also another way we thought I could begin to reveal some of who I was by playing a character that was, well, not such a stretch for me.”
Dan Wootton, who is also gay, decided that the case against the actor “requires a closer look,” after being “cancelled in the court of public opinion yet successful in an actual court of law multiple times.”
The two-part documentary “Spacey Unmasked from Mike Lerner and Dorothy Byrne, airs Monday and Tuesday on Max and ID.
