Kevin Spacey has been ordered to pay nearly $31 million to TV studio Media Rights Capital (“MRC”) for breaching his contract with the TV series ‘House of Cards’, due to behavior leading up to his 2017 termination from the Netflix show amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
MRC filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court revealing the actor was ordered to pay the eight-figure sum after a “confidential,” closed-door arbitration proceeding that ended with the judgment that Spacey failed to overturn on appeal. The new filing is asking the court to confirm the award. MRC says the secret proceeding included more than 20 depositions and an eight-day evidentiary hearing in front of a neutral arbitrator. The arbitrator found that Spacey “repeatedly breached” his contractual obligations in each of the five House of Cards seasons that he starred in and executive-produced, according to the paperwork. The arbitrator found MRC “had no choice” but to halt production of the show’s sixth season, remove Spacey’s character from the script and shorten the season from 13 to eight episodes “upon the revelations of Spacey’s pattern of harassment.”
The 62-year-old Spacey was filming the sixth and final season of the show in Oct. 2017, when accusations arose that Spacey attempted to have sex with actor Anthony Rapp at a party at his house in 1986 when Rapp was only 14 years old. Days later, allegations from eight anonymous House of Cards crew members were released, accusing Spacey of “predatory” behavior. Spacey said he didn’t recall the alleged incident with Rapp, but if it did occur, it was “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” He later said he was seeking treatment and has largely withdrawn from public life.
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