Kevin Spacey’s Trial is Set to Begin Nearly Five Years after Anthony Rapp Accused Him of Sexual Assault

The sexual abuse trial against Kevin Spacey is set to begin in New York.

On Thursday morning, the jury selection process will begin for Kevin Spacey‘s civil trial. He is being accused of sexual abuse by actor Anthony Rapp, who claims that the incident happened at a party in New York City back in 1986 when he was only 14 years old.

Rapp’s trial begins five years after he first detailed his allegations against Spacey, who has denied them. Rapp alleges that Spacey grabbed his buttocks and lifted him onto a bed, then briefly laid down on top of him before Rapp managed to “wriggled out,” according to court documents.

Rapp told BuzzFeed News in an article published in October 2017 that “He was trying to seduce me,” noting, “I don’t know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”

After the BuzzFeed article was published, Spacey took to Twitter to say that he did not remember the alleged incident from 1986. He continued on to write: “If I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”

He was one of the first people to level sexual abuse allegations against Spacey, 63, in the early days of the #MeToo movement. The accusations brought an end to Spacey’s career in show business.

What to know about the Kevin Spacey trial

The trial of Kevin Spacey will take place in Lower Manhattan at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who has handled high-profile cases involving Guantanamo Bay detainees and New York City mobsters, presides over the case.

After the first trial has concluded, Rapp is expected to take the stand. He currently portrays Spock in the Paramount Network series “Star Trek: Discovery.” He’s also appeared on Broadway in “Rent” and in “Dazed and Confused.” among other things.

Rapp’s claims of battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress will be the focal point of the trial. In June, a court document showed that Kaplan had dismissed a sexual assault claim because Rapp brought it too late.

He is wanted by the police in the United Kingdom for sexually assaulting three men more than a decade ago. He pleaded not guilty in July, during a hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court.

The Associated Press reports that his trial in the U.K. is set to begin on June 6, 2023.

A Los Angeles judge ruled in August that Spacey and his companies must pay the producers behind Netflix’s “House of Cards” nearly $31 million to make up for losses they incurred after he was fired due to sexual harassment allegations from crew members, according to court documents.

The allegations against Spacey, who played a sinister fake president in House of Cards, have been denied.

After his character was killed off, Spacey’s co-star Robin Wright took over the lead role for the show’s sixth and final season.

Spacey’s won two Academy Awards, for “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty.”