“I would like to talk to Kevin Spacey…I feel so sad, and I hate that actor (Anthony Rapp) that ruined this guy’s career…So, OK, it happened 10 years ago… Jesus, suck it up once in a while! I would like to ask [Spacey] how it feels to lose a lifetime of success and hard work all because of 10 minutes of indiscretion 10 years or more ago… You know something, all of us in this room at one time or another did something we’re ashamed of. The Dalai Lama has done something he’s ashamed of. The Dalai Lama should confess… put that in your magazine!”— Author and journalist Gay Talese at an appearance the Library Lions Gala at the New York Public Library, when asked who he’d be interested in profiling today.
Stache
Well, lets see. That 10 minutes of indiscretion happened with a 14 yo. Plus, all the other indiscretions we keep hearing about since then.
Great response though. Attack the victim. That’ll work.
mattachinepodcast
I’m starting to really like you, Stache. Spot on.
vaguy
I don’t think you can automatically condemn Spacey simply because Rapp was 14 at the time. Many homosexual boys are eager to be sexually active in their teen years, and, indeed, sometimes they are the aggressors. None of us really knows what happened between Spacey and Rapp or the circumstances or their behavior. Yes, in neutral terms, an adult propositioning a teenager is not legal and usually not right, but in gay world, things work a bit differently whether we like it or not. My big question is where in the hell were Rapp’s parents? If you want to point fingers, it seems to me they are the ones who probably bear as much, if not more, responsibility for the incident.
Stache
Um yes you can. Rapp was very specific on how it happened. Banging kids is as wrong in the gay world as it is in straight world. Thanks for making the hate groups argument though.
JaredMacBride
To vaguy – do you write that post last night at your NAMBLA meeting? Besides having your facts wrong your moral compass is way off.
JamJewel
To the extent that I seduced my first sex partner at 9-years-old, I agree with vaguy to a certain extent. But it is never alright to come on or abuse anyone, regardless of age, much less a teenage who is rebuffing your advances. Alcohol is the ultimate truth serum and indicates a penchant for bad behaviors whether under its influence or not.
paljim
I’m not attempting to ‘blame the victim’ here but let’s not forget this happened over 30 years ago.
You state “Rapp was very specific on how it happened”. Memory is elusive, there can be no way to ascertain with any certainty that Mr. Rapp’s memory of it completely accurate. Mr. Spacey’s actions (as described) were reprehensible and his defense clumsy and completely disingenuous but I don’t believe it’s possible to know exactly what occurred or what benefit Mr. Rapp expects to accrue as a result of telling his story. If it was to destroy Mr. Spacey’s career and reputation, I’d say he’s been successful, wouldn’t you?
Stenar
Pajim, you know more people have come forward, right? Spacey was doing the same thing last year as he was 30 years ago.
radiooutmike
To vaguy as well…
Dude, you’re not wrong. Sure, many gay teen boys like straight teen boys would be excited to have an older sexual partner. But that does not make it right. How about if Rapp at age 14 said yes to Spacey? It still would not be right. How about if Rapp then part way through it said no? Still wrong.
Plenty of gay guys have stories about their first lover who was of legal age when they weren’t. And while perhaps a large component of those men now say it was ok, or they say they suffered no harm; that does not change view that behavior being predatory in nature.
PinkoOfTheGange
@paljim
Rapp has told this story for years with out variation, although not by rote. He has always said it was his interpretation of the situation that Spacey wanted more. I believe it happened. 10 days ago I was willing to go with Rapp misinterpreted the incident, and write it off as age inappropriate rough housing.
I put little weight on the anonymous accounts, but if one person was willing to publicly say “#metoo when I was less then 18” I would stop pushing for neutrality, and wait for the courts.
At the least it seems that Spacey has boundary issues.
o.codone
I was ready to suck some dick when I was 14, so yeah Vag Guy, I know what you mean. But, it’s still wrong and illegal so I guess that party never goes anywhere, does it? Seriously, who calls themselves Vag Guy? I know, I know, but I’d change the name anyway.
GayEGO
Good response hot guy!
Brody
I wonder if Mr. Talese would feel the same if something similar had happened to one of his daughters.
RIGay
I can see the confusion, yes, like Kevin Spacey, the Dalai Lama does walk around underage boys dressed in a robe.
But his Holiness does not grope them, nor does he try and sexually assault them.
Perhaps someone should explain that to Mr. Talese.
OzJosh
Actually, there is abundant evidence of young boys apprenticed to monasteries (especially in Nepal) being abused by monks, so you might want to re-frame your argument.
chris33133
Okay, I get it. People have tended to pile onto Kevin Spacey; but that’s in part because of the persistent nature of his offenses (didn’t he ever think that, as social norms change, he might need to change as well?) and his coming out as a way of deflecting the original charge. So I’ll grant that we’ve (myself included) have been slightly over the top in our reactions to anything Spacey.
HOWEVER, what planet (Uranus?) has Mr. Talese been living on these past few months to liken Kevin Spacey to the Dalai Lama? I want to Pineapple Express myself into oblivion every time I think of his words. Dude, you are so wrong here…..
Donston
The response has been over the top, yes. Some people just love to be enraged and to be heard instead of having legit, nuanced conversation. However, persistently “hooking up with” and/or trying to hook up with 13-15 year olds, groping unsuspecting people, sexually harassing employees of HoC (so, we know the behavior hasn’t stopped). I mean the dude pulled his dick out to a random journalist during an interview and tried to convince the interviewer he was a self-hating lame because he didn’t want to fvck him. The guy is a manipulative megalomaniac pervert at least, an abusive monster at worst.
Donston
Also, his brazenness with people and lack of respect, particularly with the press, was partially shielded because of the closet. That makes him even easier to resent. But it’s definitely not the crux of the outrage.
o.codone
Donston said Spacey had a: … “lack of respect, particularly with the press”. You mean the predatory, manipulative, coersive, lying press? Respect? Are you fu*cking joking here? Grow up. The press doesn’t know the meaning of the word respect.
Donston
A couple of people in the press have accused Spacey of unsuspectingly groping them during interviews. And a former writer of the Boston Globe accused him of trying to pull her drunk son out of a bar. Spacey was brazen even with people that could easily expose him, which shows just how much his instincts were driven by megalomania. These people obviously feared Spacey, were too embarrassed and/or feared the backlash of outing somebody, because they all refused to come forward until now.
And you’re the one that needs to grow up, you clone troll. Like all the rest of your clones and ally trolls you try to divert from the actual topic to talk about some other nonsense. Nobody is talking about the press. Nor are we talking about the behavior of 14-year-olds. We’re talking about Spacey and his behavior.
Stenar
Anybody who supports Spacey must be doing something similar, which is why they don’t see anything wrong with it.
PinkoOfTheGange
any one that states the above is trying deflect from their own guilt…see how that works.
Heywood Jablowme
What happened to all those NEW Queerty commenters a week ago who were defending Kevin Spacey because they said in most of Europe it’s okay to screw a 14-year-old?
(Oh, and in Brazil of course – but we know who that one is, he’s not new!)
Now they’ve all disappeared?
Bradsman
I hate Anthony Rapp too! What did he have to gain from telling the world about the non rape 30 years ago? I hope he experiences some backlash.
PinkoOfTheGange
Although probably to soon. Has any one else noticed that, save for one anonymous report, Spacey has no game and is never getting any.
Anyway Talese is like the strange great uncle who says racist things every 17 minutes, but his only friend is an African American guy he worked with without incident for 30 years.
Donston
Most of the guys (including most of the underage males) that actually indulged Spacey’s antics are likely staying hush. No doubt he gets his. But when you go after so many randoms you’re bound to often strike out.
Spacey’s whole routine seems to not be about charm but about mind games, manipulation, control and shock.
dean089
My only real take away from this story is finding out that Gay Talese is still alive.
Paco
Except that it wasn’t just one actor that caused Spacey to lose a lot. The allegations are still coming and it has become clear that Spacey easily fits the mold of a sexual predator. And with sexual predators, it is about having power over others.
Keebler ILF
Now someone is claiming that Charlie Sheen at age 21 may have molested Corey Haim when Haim was 15. They were both in the movie Lucas.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091445/mediaviewer/rm2972203776
Keebler ILF
Correction: Sheen was 19, Haim was 13.
Knight
His Mom denies it…but she’s also the one who turned a blind eye to all the abuse as it was blatantly tearing her son apart, and spiraling down through drug and alcohol abuse for the remainder of his life. I don’t believe the story, but I don’t trust or believe her words either.
DCguy
I guess old pedophiles stick together.
Also, I just LOVE all of the Spacey trolls on here who keep repeating “It happened 30 years ago, and seem to want to pretend that the other 10 or 12 complaints including 8 by CURRENT co-workers of Spacey haven’t happened.
Also, he never denied Rapp’s account, and instead of claiming these are lies, he said he had a problem and checked himself into Child molesting rehab. Yeah, he seems REALLY innocent.
So a quick thing, trolls, you can try to come on here repeating the phony nambla fantasy over and over and over of the aggressive child vixen and the reluctant adult good guy who eventually gave in, but it isn’t going to help Spacey and it doesn’t hide the fact that you keep trying to defend him assaulting a kid.
Spacey is done, my guess is Singer is next.
Donston
I would be pretty disappointed if after all this Singer is still getting work. It would go to show just how “saving their own asses” this process has been and not really about ridding the industry of predators.
Stache
Singer is smarter then Spacey though. He understands that no one cares about no bodies. I too would like to see him go down though.
Stache
They actually recently released a documentary called “an open secret” on child predators that featured Singer.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hollywood-sex-abuse-film-an-open-secret-released-online-first-time-1048706
GayEGO
And now Heather Unrue, a Boston ABC news reporter has a son that Spacey molested, such a shame! Her son has our support and he must put the molestation in the past as others do not think less of him.
nitejonboy
He’s right…the Dalai Lama put his Lama Ding Dong in my butt when I was 10. I’ve never been the same.
Knight
Never heard of “Gay Talese”, so I just googled him…and immediately regretted it. Yeah….this guy’s definitely seen his way around a pedophilia case himself. Pedos of a feather…