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Before he was revealed to be a sexual predator, Kevin Spacey was one of the biggest names in Hollywood, with starring roles in films like American Beauty and Se7en. However, he arguably did not enter the public consciousness until House of Cards, the highly popular and historic political thriller that turned Netflix into the media giant that it is today.
In 2015, at the peak of his powers, Spacey was interviewed by NFL Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Michael Strahan at the Emmys, where House of Cards had two nominations for the third straight year. At one point, Bradshaw interrupted:
"I've never seen your show, honestly, because... (Spacey: You don't have Netflix.) Exactly. I can't afford it. (Spacey: No, no... You can't figure out how to get Netflix to work.)
“Why does everybody come at me like that?”
Explaining Kevin Spacey's US charges
Terry Bradshaw did not know it at the time, but it would be the last time he and Kevin Spacey would be seen together in public.
More than two years after that interaction, Spacey's career came to a sudden halt in October 2017, when actor Anthony Rapp accused him of a sexual advance in the past. Rapp was 14 when the incident occurred.
In response, Spacey came out as gay, which attracted public condemnation and derision:
"This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life... I have loved and had romantic relationships with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man."
In the aftermath of the revelation, Netflix fired him from House of Cards (whose final season starred Robin Wright, who played the wife of his character). Shortly afterwards, multiple incidents of past groping and other inappropriate behavior by him, even during the production of House of Cards, reemerged, with filmmaker Tony Montana being one of the most prominent accusers.
Spacey's trial for the assault on Rapp ended in acquittal in October last year. Recently, he scored another personal victory when he was cleared of all nine of his charges that allegedly took place in the UK during his time at the Old Vic theater. He issued this statement:
"...I'm enormously thankful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision. And I am humbled by the outcome today."
