The other people who worked on “House of Cards” with whom CNN spoke all supported the idea that the set could be toxic for young men because of Spacey.
A crew member who worked on the show for all six seasons said that Spacey routinely harassed and touched him.
“He would put his hands on me in weird ways,” the crew member said. “He would come in and massage my shoulders from behind or put his hands around me or touch my stomach sometimes in weird ways that in normal everyday conversation would not be appropriate.”
This crew member said he did not “feel comfortable” telling Spacey to stop. “That’s the worst part about this whole thing. I would love to be able to speak out about this kind of stuff and not fear.”
CNN spoke to a close friend of the crew member, who says that the crew member had told him about Spacey’s behavior over the course of the six seasons of the show that it happened.
When asked on Thursday about the new allegations, Netflix said in a statement to CNN that they sent a representative to the “House of Cards” set on Monday. Spacey did not respond to CNN’s request for comment about the new allegations.
“Netflix was just made aware of one incident, five years ago, that we were informed was resolved swiftly,” the statement said. “On Tuesday, in collaboration with MRC, we suspended production, knowing that Kevin Spacey wasn’t scheduled to work until Wednesday. Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set. We continue to collaborate with MRC and other production partners to maintain a safe and respectful working environment. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the production, and have nothing further to share at this time.”
MRC, the production company behind “House of Cards,” told CNN in a separate statement on Thursday that they have implemented “an anonymous complaint hotline, crisis counselors, and sexual harassment legal advisors for the crew.”
“We are deeply troubled to learn about these new allegations that are being made to the press concerning Kevin Spacey’s interaction with members of the crew of House of Cards,” the MRC statement said. “As the producer of the show, creating and maintaining a safe working environment for our cast and crew has always been our top priority. We have consistently reinforced the importance of employees reporting any incident without fear of retaliation and we have investigated and taken appropriate actions following any complaints. For example, during our first year of production in 2012, someone on the crew shared a complaint about a specific remark and gesture made by Kevin Spacey. Immediate action was taken following our review of the situation and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved. Mr. Spacey willingly participated in a training process and since that time MRC has not been made aware of any other complaints involving Mr. Spacey.”