In a civil sexual abuse case brought by his colleague actor Anthony Rapp, actor Kevin Spacey was ruled not responsible on Thursday.
The court dismissed the claim.
The allegations originated from a 1986 event in which Rapp said Spacey piled on top of him at a party while Spacey was 26 and Rapp was only 14 years old.
In his evidence on Monday, a visibly upset Spacey assured the jury that the accusations were “not true.”
Rapp filed a $40 million lawsuit against Spacey for the alleged encounter at the actor’s Manhattan residence, during which he said the actor pulled him up, grabbed his buttocks, and then lied down on top of him.
The trial marked the first time Spacey defended himself in front of a jury. Rapp’s charges were the first of many against Spacey, who was dismissed from the Netflix blockbuster “House of Cards” amid a flurry of complaints about sexual misbehavior.
The charges, which were originally made public by Rapp, a regular on TV’s “Star Trek: Discovery,” in a Buzzfeed piece in 2017, were described as “shocking,” “frightening,” and “confusing” by Spacey in his testimony.
He reportedly told the jury, “I knew I had never been alone with Anthony Rapp,” according to The Associated Press.
Thursday afternoon, Spacey departed the Manhattan courthouse without speaking to the media.
Rapp expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to present his case to a jury in a tweet that was shared on the social media platform.
