Eight past and present staffers on the set of ‘House of Cards’ have accused Kevin Spacey of sexual harassment, which brings the total number of accusations to 10.
The employees, who spoke to CNN in confidence for fear of professional repercussions, said Spacey made the work environment “toxic”.
A former production assistant said Spacey assaulted him when he was assigned to pick Spacey up from an offsite location and bring him to the House of Cards set.
He said they were just minutes away from the set when Spacey, who was driving, put his hands down the production assistant’s pants. The production assistant said the touching was non-consensual.
“I was in a state of shock,” he said. “He was a man in a very powerful position on the show and I was someone very low on the totem pole and on the food chain there.
The production assistant asked that what happened next in the car not be described, for fear that it would identify him.
“It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors,” he added.
Some other members of the production team told CNN about various harassment incidents.
“He would put his hands on me in weird ways. He would come in and massage my shoulders from behind or put his hands around me or touch my stomach,” a crew member said.
He said he did not “feel comfortable” telling Spacey to stop and “That’s the worst part about this whole thing. I would love to be able to speak out about this kind of stuff and not fear.”
Netflix, responding to the story, said just one incident had been reported five years ago.
“Netflix was just made aware of one incident, five years ago, that we were informed was resolved swiftly.
“On Tuesday, in collaboration with MRC, we suspended production, knowing that Kevin Spacey wasn’t scheduled to work until Wednesday.
“Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set.”
Media Rights Capital, the production company behind House of Cards, told CNN on Thursday that they have implemented “an anonymous complaint hotline, crisis counselors, and sexual harassment legal advisors for the crew.”
Star Trek actor, Anthony Rapp, and Tony Montana, a filmmaker, had earlier accused Spacey of sexual harassment.
Netflix has also stopped production of the show and has pulled it off their platform.
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