Hollywood is in a meltdown. After the Harvey Weinstein accusations came to light, it became open season for every actor and actress in Tinsel Town to come out and name the people who have abused them — except Corey Feldman, who is suffering attempts on his life and mass shunning for shining a light on pedophilia. Nevertheless, the accusations have been coming down like a hard rain in Hollywood with many prominent actors falling under scrutiny.
Among the most prominent, of course, is Kevin Spacey. He was accused of having attempted to rape a teenage boy in the 1980s. According to the victim, Anthony Rapp, the A-list actor had tried to force himself on him when Rapp was just 14 years old. Spacey threw Rapp down on a bed and laid down on top of him. Of course, many of the most obvious questions are not being asked, like – where were the parents who let Rapp stay at a Hollywood party in the late hours of the night even after everyone else had left?
What kind of culture produces situations where things like this are possible? To most parents, it is unthinkable.
Spacey immediately began to deflect. He didn’t even try to deny it. Rather than to claim innocence, or own up to it, Spacey said he was likely intoxicated at the time and is now accepting himself as a homosexual.
None of these claims excuse him.
When those excuses didn’t work, Spacey thought he could capitalize on the protected status that gays enjoy in Hollywood by announcing that he is gay — has always been gay, and will now live as gay.
This is a total diversion, of course, just as Harvey Weinstein’s attempt to gain the aid of the political left by announcing that he intends to take on the NRA is a diversion. Apparently, it is well-known in Hollywood that if you’re on the left side of politics, you will be forgiven for your crimes.
But the story gets even stranger. Spacey’s brother, Randall Fowler, has revealed a blistering story of abuse at the hands of their father. According to Fowler, their father sexually abused both children throughout the duration of their childhood years, was violent toward their mother, and was consistently unemployed. Not only that, but their father also had the strange habit of dressing up like Adolph Hitler — not just at parties — but regularly, and that he was an outspoken believer in the Nazi cause.
The brothers have been estranged for nearly two decades. According to Fowler, Spacey had always gone along with the abuse his father dolled out to him while Fowler resisted. Fowler attempted to protect his younger brother from their father and received regular beatings of a particularly brutal nature. His reward from Spacey for trying to protect him is being disowned by his younger brother.
Spacey’s comments on their father have not been publicly accepting of the way he was or the way he treated his wife and children. But Spacey makes excuses for him. He says his father lacked self-control, that he had to cope with poverty, that he wasn’t educated enough to prevent himself from engaging in the horrific abuses that he visited on his sons.
That is to say, in the same way that Spacey is making excuses for his own misdeeds, he makes excuses for his abusive father as well.
The reaction to Spacey’s coming out as gay has evoked a predictably fawning response from the mainstream media. But most people with even a passing familiarity with the actor say that his coming out of the closet is no surprise. Comedian, Woopie Goldberg said Spacey is, “trying to hide underneath the rainbow,” by trying to divert attention with the announcement of his being gay.
The reaction from people in the gay community has been outrage. This is because Spacey is suggesting something that they have been fighting against for years- the stereotype that gay people are sexual predators and a danger to children. It’s a reasonable logical progression they are making, and it shows that Spacey has no concern for the people he has hurt, and the people he is hurting. He is only trying desperately to preserve his misspent freedom and his doomed career.
~ Liberty Planet
