Just as Frank Underwood's Washington tenure is coming to an end, so does the career of the man who plays him, Kevin Spacey.
In the aftermath of today's allegations of unwanted sexual advances in 1986 by Kevin Spacey against a then-teenage Anthony Rapp, Netflix has decided to pull the plug on House of Cards after the upcoming sixth season next year, Deadline reported.
Citing sources, Deadline says that the decision was made today, just over 12-hours after the Rapp first made public his allegations on October 29 of what happened at a party at Spacey’s NYC apartment back in the mid-1980s, with key cast and creatives were alerted this morning. Furthermore, Netflix’s film Gore which stars Spacey about author Gore Vidal, i said to also be on the chopping block. There is no word yet if the NYPD are looking into the matter that occurred in their jurisdiction back in 1986 between then 14-year old Rapp and Spacey.
The sexual assault claims, which were implicitly validated by Spacey, came as the Emmy nominated House of Cards is currently in production in Maryland on its sixth season.
As reported earlier, late on Sunday Rapp claimed that then 26-year old Spacey drunkenly put the then teen on a bed to “seduce” him. “I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually,” Rapp said last night of the 1986 incident when the Stacey and he were both on Broadway in a revival of Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Precious Sons respectively. Shortly afterwards, Spacey issued a statement on twitter saying he “did not remember the encounter” but added he was “horrified” by what Rapp described. “If I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior,” Spacey also said.
Spacey then decided to use the occasion to seemingly shift focus in announcing publicly that he had “choose now to live as a gay man,” The American Beauty star drew harsh rebukes swiftly online and otherwise. As for Rapp himself, the actor said on Twitter after Spacey’s apology and announcement that he had “no further comment ..at this time.
The 13-episode Season 6 of House of Cards is expected to debut in mid-2018 on Netflix.