“Shame on you Kevin Spacey, for what you did to my son. You are a sexual predator.”
These are the words of Heather Unruh, a former Boston TV news anchor – more importantly, a mother – who on Wednesday told reporters how actor Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted her teenage son at a Nantucket restaurant in July 2016.
“It happened late night, inside Club Carr restaurant on Nantucket Island,” Unruh told reporters, as recorded by NBC Boston. “The victim – my son – was a starstruck, straight 18-year-old young man who had no idea that the famous actor was an alleged sexual predator or that he was about to become his next victim.”
Unruh said the House of Cards actor brought her son “drink after drink after drink”, after the 18-year-old told Spacey he was of legal age.
“Whether he was over 21 or not, Kevin Spacey had no right to sexually assault him,” Unruh told reporters. “There was no consent.”
Unruh alleges that when her son was drunk, Spacey assaulted him.
“The room was very crowded, it was dimly lit. Spacey stuck his hand inside my son’s pants and grabbed his genitals,” she said. “This was completely unexpected, and my son’s efforts to shift his body to remove Spacey’s hand were only momentarily successful. The violation continued. My son panicked. He froze.”
Spacey allegedly continued to assault Unruh's son, urging him to come to a party afterwards, before getting up to use the bathroom.
It was at this moment the 18-year-old escaped, after a woman approached the table asking if he was okay.
"She's obviously seen something and she urged him to run," Unruh said. "And he did. All the way to his grandmother's house where he woke his sister and they called me in the middle of the night."
Unruh said Spacey harmed her son, and that the trauma of the event "cannot be undone".
She said he did not report the assault at the time because of "embarrassment and fear" but that he filed a report with police last week and they're investigating.
"He knew the kind of attention that would result from making an accusation about such a public person," Unruh said. "But the climate in this country has changed now thanks to the brave women and all sexual abuse victims who have come forward with their accuations against Harvey Weinstein and other sexual abusers."
A lawyer for Spacey didn't immediately return an email on Wednesday, AAP reports.
- With AAP
Top Comments
So a young adult ("teenager" in name, but hardly a child) hangs out with an actor who is living openly in the closet, lies about his age, then doesn't wonder why said actor is hanging out with him and buying him drinks? Why else would a middle-aged closeted famous bloke hang out with a young, un-famous man? To find a new BFF? If we allow for the possibility that the young man was simply incredibly naive, then we also have to allow for the possibility Spacey assumed the kid was hanging out for reasons other than making friends.
BTW, why does the mother think it's relevant to point out her son's heterosexuality in this scenario? If the son was gay, does she think that the behaviour wasn't predatory?
More victim blaming! Doesnt matter if he was 18, 20 or 40, drunk, sober or on drugs. Without consent handling someone elses privates is a sexual assult. Why is this so hard to understand!
You cannot touch someone without their consent. It doesn’t matter if they’re drunk. It doesn’t matter if they’re high. It doesn’t matter if they’re wearing a bikini. It doesn’t matter. You cannot touch someone without their consent. If you are not sure if someone is flirting with you then you ASK. “Can I kiss you?” If the person says “Yes”. You proceed. If they say “No”, you apologise and back away. If the person is drunk, under the influence, under the age of 18 or in any other away is unable to provide consent YOU BACK OFF. Is that really so hard to understand?
It's not ok to grab someone else's tackle without a relationship. It was assault.