Kevin Spacey has claimed his Hollywood career is improving, telling Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast on Monday that he feels “much more welcome” in the industry after years of being effectively excluded following dozens of sexual misconduct allegations.
“I feel much more welcome and I think things are moving in the direction we hoped,” he said. house of cards said the actor, 66 years old.
He pointed to his judicial record as a central element of his argument.
“I never said there was no fire. It just wasn’t a devastating forest fire. It was a small kitchen fire that could have been put out with a fire extinguisher,” he told Maher, also acknowledging that “I got close to a lot of guys.”
Maher, 70, was not entirely on their side.
The comedian clearly told Spacey that he believed some of the allegations against him were valid, saying there was “too much smoke for there to be no fire” given the volume of accusations.
He suggested that Spacey “should have received some punishment,” while acknowledging that the actor had “paid a lot.”
Spacey’s response was to suggest that the ledger was already settled.
“I feel less incarcerated than I did before. When people really start to hear the facts and understand what we won in court, I think people now look at this and think, maybe nine years was enough.”
He also offered a sports analogy: “If I had been a sports figure, they would have benched me for seven games. If you’re hitting home runs, they want you on the field.”
Allegations against Spacey began to emerge in late 2017, when actor Anthony Rapp claimed that Spacey had made an unwanted sexual advance toward him when Rapp was 14 years old.
Rapp filed a civil suit for $40 million, but a federal jury found Spacey not liable on all charges in October 2022.
In 2023, a London jury found him not guilty of nine counts of sexual offenses related to allegations spanning between 2001 and 2013.
In March of this year, Spacey settled out of court with three men who alleged sexual assault between 2000 and 2013. He has denied all allegations throughout.
At the height of the allegations, Spacey was fired from Netflix’s House of Cards and replaced at Ridley Scott’s. All the money in the world.
It remains to be seen if Hollywood is truly ready to welcome him back, but Spacey, at least, seems to believe the tide is turning.
