Netflix Has Suspended ‘House Of Cards’ Production Indefinitely
A number of actors have criticised Kevin Spacey's apology.
UPDATE: We may have seen the end of House Of Cards after Netflix and the show’s producers announced production of the show would be indefinitely suspended in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against Kevin Spacey.
“MRC [Media Rights Capital] and Netflix have decided to suspend production on ‘House of Cards’ season six, until further notice, to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew,” Netflix and production company Media Rights Capital said in a joint statement.
The decision comes after Netflix yesterday announced the upcoming sixth season of its landmark political drama House of Cards will be the show’s last. The announcement came less than 24 hours after actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of sexual misconduct.
According to BuzzFeed, who broke the news about the harassment allegations, Spacey invited Rapp, who was 14 years old, to his apartment and made sexual advances towards him. The alleged incident occurred in 1986.
This morning Netflix released a joint statement with House of Cards production company Media Rights Capital confirming the show would be cancelled after the next season.
“Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey,” the companies said. “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.”
A Netflix spokesperson said that the decision to cancel the show was made “months ago” but the cast and crew were only notified today.
Spacey responded to Rapp’s allegations on Twitter, saying he did not remember the encounter and apologised for “what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour”. He also used to statement to talk about his personal, writing “I choose now to live as a gay man”.
— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017
A number of entertainment industry figures criticised Spacey for linking his sexuality to the allegations of sexual misconduct.
Nope to Kevin Spacey's statement. Nope. There's no amount of drunk or closeted that excuses or explains away assaulting a 14-year-old child.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) October 30, 2017
Just wanna be really fucking clear that being gay has nothing to do w/ going after underage folks
— Cameron Esposito (@cameronesposito) October 30, 2017
Actor Zachary Quinto described Spacey’s statement as “a calculated manipulation to deflect attention from the very serious accusation”.
— Zachary Quinto (@ZacharyQuinto) October 30, 2017
Being gay should never be equated with sexual assault or pedophilia. Thanks for giving the homophobes more ammo #KevinSpacey. ?
— Lance Bass (@LanceBass) October 30, 2017
Despite today’s cancellation amount, Variety is reporting that Netflix is developing a number of potential House of Cards spinoffs. One idea reportedly being floated is a show focusing on Michael Kelly’s character, Doug Stamper, however Netflix has not yet confirmed the speculation.