Kevin Spacey must pay House of Cards $42m

OSTN Staff

The disgraced 62-year-old actor starred on the hit Netflix political drama from 2013-2017 before he was accused of sexual misconduct by several young men, including a production assistant on the show, Fox News reports.Spacey was booted from the program while Robin Wright took over as its lead for its final season in 2018.Allegations against Spacey caused House of Cards studio MRC to launch an investigation, resulting in the termination of the star’s acting and producing contracts.The results took both parties to JAMS Arbitration, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which is co-owned by MRC and Penske Media Corporation, and Spacey has lost the battle.MRC filed documents in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to confirm the arbitration award.Per the filing, an October 19 ruling by an arbitrator said that Spacey breached contractual obligations, including following MRC’s anti-harassment policies, THR reports.The arbitrator pointed to evidence that MRC took a hit due to Spacey’s behaviour, such as its need to shorten the show’s sixth season in order to meet the delivery deadline after halting production.Spacey reportedly argued that his “pay or play” deal still entitled him to money and that MRC and Netflix’s decision to cut him from the show based on conduct from outside the statute of limitations was their own choice, resulting in financial loss.“The safety of our employees, sets and work environments is of paramount importance to MRC and why we set out to push for accountability,” MRC said in a statement obtained by Fox News.Lawyer Michael Kump said that “it was a privilege representing MRC in this matter.”He added: “MRC stood its ground, pursued this case doggedly, and obtained the right result in the end.”Spacey reportedly attempted to appeal the ruling but was unsuccessful.Reps for Netflix and Spacey did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.In 2019, Massachusetts prosecutors dropped a criminal case accusing Spacey of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man, after the alleged victim refused to testify.William Little had accused the actor of groping him in a bar on the resort island of Nantucket in July 2016. But the indecent assault and battery charges collapsed due to “the unavailability of the complaining witness,” who had declined to give evidence due to fear of self-incrimination.The allegations emerged after another actor accused Spacey of trying to seduce him three decades ago when he was 14, leading to Netflix dropping Spacey from House of Cards.After the charge was announced in December 2018, Spacey released a bizarre video in the voice of Frank Underwood, his character on Netflix’s House of Cards, in which he said: “I’m certainly not going to pay the price for the thing I didn’t do.”This article originally appeared on Fox News and is reproduced here with permission

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