Looks like Kevin Spacey might be able to Keyser Söze shuffle away from yet another legal problem even though we’ve been on to him since the second act. According to The Huffington Post, the judge presiding over a civil lawsuit against him has ruled that the anonymous plaintiff who is suing Kevin for sexual assault, must reveal their identity in order for the case to move forward. This is the same lawsuit on which actor Anthony Rapp is a co-plaintiff. As with Anthony, the anonymous plaintiff, known only as “C.D.”, alleges that Kevin sexually assaulted him in the 1980s when he was just 14 years old.
HuffPo reports:
A man accusing Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey of sexually abusing him in the 1980s when he was 14 cannot proceed anonymously in court, a judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan refused to let the man proceed only as “C.D.” in a lawsuit filed in September in New York state court and later moved to federal court.
The man had met Spacey in the actor’s suburban New York acting class before the alleged abuse, according to the lawsuit which seeks over $40 million in damages.
Kaplan said C.D.’s privacy interest does not outweigh the presumption of open judicial proceedings and the prejudice to Spacey’s defense that would occur if he could proceed anonymously. Individuals with information that might support Spacey also would not know to come forward, the judge added.
Well, it’s about damn time somebody spared a thought for Kevin’s poor, beleaguered hypothetical possible supporters. Is there even anybody left on the planet who still thinks Kevin deserved that Oscar for American Beauty let alone is willing to speak on his behalf? Besides the fact that Kevin was, and sadly still is, a very rich and famous man, asking his accuser to reveal themself seems cruel and wildly unfair. The judge disagrees, based on the fact that C.D.’s had apparently “cooperated” with a 2017 New York magazine article posted on Vulture.com. But, you know, anonymously.
He said “the evidence suggests that C.D. knowingly and repeatedly took the risk that any of these individuals at one point or another would reveal his true identity in a manner that would bring that identity to wide public attention.”
The judge said claims by C.D.’s lawyers that using their client’s name would trigger post traumatic stress disorder and the anxiety, nightmares and depression that come with it is a consequence that likely cannot be prevented as the case proceeds and C.D. is ultimately forced to testify in public.
He gave lawyers 10 days to reveal C.D.’s name if he continued to make the claims.
In an early March letter to the judge, attorney Peter Saghir said C.D. feels “extreme anxiety and psychological distress at even the thought of being required to proceed publicly” and had reluctantly decided to drop his claims if Kaplan ordered him to proceed publicly.
Let’s see, so far Kevin has gotten off the hook due to the statute of limitations, sudden death, death by suicide, a missing cellphone, and possibly an ad-hoc rendition of Razzle Dazzle from the hit Broadway musical Chicago! They say Kevin’s career is over but at this rate, he’ll be performing both leads in Of Mice and Men: The Musical! at the Tiffany Ballroom at Mar-a-Lago (it’s more of a gloried janitorial closet but beggars can’t be choosers) for decades to come. It’s not justice, but at least it’s fitting.
Pic: Instagram
