A judge ordered Kevin Spacey to pay $31 million (about R$170 million) to Media Rights Capital, the producer behind “House of Cards,” the Netflix series in which the actor starred for five seasons until he was fired in 2017.
The decision was expressed in a petition filed on Monday (22) in Los Angeles County Superior Court, in which the MRC asks the court “to uphold the sentence in its favor and enter into judgment against Spacey”.
The actor and producer have faced each other in court for the years since Spacey was fired from the series on allegations of misconduct on and off the set.
In suit, the MRC contends that in October 2020, a judge found that Spacey “repeatedly violated his contractual obligations” by starring as Frank Underwood in the production and that his behavior “made him (and his affiliated entities) responsible” for millions of dollars lost by the company.
The producer suspended Spacey after reporting by CNN in 2017, in which several members and former members of the “House of Cards” production team reported allegations of sexual harassment against the actor.
One person also accused Spacey, who was the series’ executive producer, of sexual assault.
“The MRC was not aware of any conduct by Spacey with any associated cast or crew,” the document states.
Just before the report of the CNN, actor Anthony Rapp told BuzzFeed News that Spacey took a sexual approach at a party in 1986 when he was 14 years old.
Following Rapp’s allegations, the actor issued a statement claiming he did not remember the incident and apologized for what he claimed was “profoundly inappropriate drunken behavior.”
After Spacey was dropped from “House of Cards”, MRC says it had to “rewrite the entire season to omit his character and shorten season 6 from 13 to 8 episodes to meet deadlines” and suffered monetary losses as a result. .
Following Monday’s decision, the MRC released a statement: “The safety of our employees and work environments is of paramount importance and the reason we have decided to demand accountability.”
A CNN has contacted Spacey’s lawyers but has still not received a response.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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