Production has halted on the sixth season of hit drama House Of Cards, following a historical harassment allegation made against lead star Kevin Spacey.
Online streaming service Netflix and show producers Media Rights Capital (MRC) said in a statement that the suspension would continue until “further notice”.
The statement, issued on Tuesday, read: “MRC 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.”
Robin Wright and Kevin Spacey star in House Of Cards (Ian West/PA)
The decision follows a claim by actor Anthony Rapp, who recently told online publication BuzzFeed that Spacey had placed him on a bed and climbed on top of him following a party at his apartment.
Spacey would have been 26 at the time of the alleged 1986 incident, while Rapp would have been 14.
Spacey, who plays Francis Underwood in the political thriller, responded with a statement posted on Twitter on Monday, where he said he was “beyond horrified” by the claims.
He added that the story had made him “address” other personal matters and that he chooses “now to live as a gay man”.
The two-time Oscar winner, 58, has also faced a backlash from London theatre The Old Vic, where he was formerly artistic director.
— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017
Barely two years after Spacey finished a 12-year stint at the helm of the company, a spokeswoman said in a statement: “The Old Vic would like to respond to recent media reports by making it clear that we are deeply dismayed to hear the allegations levied against former artistic director Kevin Spacey.”
The statement added: “Inappropriate behaviour by anyone working at The Old Vic is completely unacceptable.
“We want our employees to feel confident, valued and proud to be part of The Old Vic family. Any behaviour we become aware of which contravenes these goals will not be tolerated.”
Earlier in the day, another statement from the organisation confirmed: “During Kevin Spacey’s tenure as artistic director no complaints were made against him,” adding that “no complaints have been made since he left”.
Anthony Rapp on stage in musical Rent (John Stillwell/PA)
The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has also revoked an award it had planned to present to the actor in November, announcing in a tweet: “The International Academy has announced that in light of recent events it will not honor Kevin Spacey with the 2017 Intl Emmy Founders Award.”
Netflix and MRC said in a previous statement that they were “deeply troubled by the allegations” against Spacey and that company executives were meeting with cast and crew “to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here