Video streaming service Netflix says it has pulled the plug on Kevin Spacey’s hit show, House of Cards – a decision made quietly last month but officially announced Monday, in the wake of allegations that the A-list star preyed on a 14-year-old actor. The show will end after it airs its sixth season in 2018.
The announcement comes as Hollywood is reeling from the latest in a string of high-profile celebrity sexual abuse allegations. According to Buzzfeed News, actor Anthony Rapp says the then-26-year-old Spacey invited him to a party, and after the other guests had left, picked the 14-year-old up, brought him to the bedroom and then laid on top of him in what Rapp interpreted as a sexual advance.
Rapp says he escaped the actor by barricading himself in the bathroom.
Spacey tried to do damage control, releasing a rambling statement Monday morning, coming out as gay, and saying that he does not remember the encounter, but if he did behave as Rapp describes, it was because he had been drinking.
But fans — and even LGBT rights group GLAAD — quickly turned on Spacey, saying that simply “being gay” didn’t explain away Spacey’s predatory behavior against a young, underage teenager.
Petitions cropped up on social media begging Netflix to give Spacey the boot. Netflix said Monday afternoon that they would not disturb House of Cards‘ current shooting schedule and would cap the show after the sixth season wraps.
House of Cards has been teetering on the edge of cancellation for some time. Netflix told USA Today that they had made a decision, internally, to cap the show at six seasons, independent of the allegations, but this weekend’s events made it necessary to speed the official announcement along.
The show’s producers say they will do what they can to handle the allegatuons internally and keep cast members comfortable as Spacey handles the public fallout.
“Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey,” the companies said in a joint statement to media Monday. “In response to last night’s revelations, executives from both of our companies arrived in Baltimore this afternoon to meet with our cast and crew to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported. As previously scheduled, Kevin Spacey is not working on set at this time.”
Kevin Spacey is also slated to do another project for Netflix, a Gore Vidal biopic titled, Gore. Netflix has yet to issue a statement on the matter, but sources close to Deadline say the movie is likely on the chopping block.