Netflix has announced actor Kevin Spacey will have no further involvement in its popular TV show House of Cards. Spacey played the show’s central character Frank Underwood.
Earlier this week Spacey confirmed he was gay, and responded to allegations that he has acted in a sexually inappropriate manner.
Star Trek Discovery actor Anthony Rapp alleged that Spacey had tried to seduce him when the two were both starring in Broadway plays in the mid-1980s. At the time of the alleged event Rapp was fourteen years old, and Spacey would have been 26.
The actor released a statement saying he had no recollection of the incident Rapp described, but apologised for any inappropriate behaviour he may have displayed. While Spacey sexuality has been the subject of speculation over the years, this was the first time he had publicly acknowledged that he was gay.
Immediately after news of the scandal broke Netflix announced that the sixth series of Spacey’s show House of Cards would be the last. The streaming service said the decision to cancel the show had been made months earlier.
Now the show has announced Spacey will be leaving the production immediately.
“Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show,” a spokesperson announced on Friday.
Production house Media Rights Capital simultaneously released a statement announcing production of the show would be paused, while a decision was made on it’s future.
“While we continue the ongoing investigation into the serious allegations concerning Kevin Spacey’s behavior on the set of House of Cards, he has been suspended, effective immediately. MRC, in partnership with Netflix, will continue to evaluate a creative path forward for the program during the hiatus,” a spokesperson said.
Netflix also announced it was canning a bio-pic Spacey stars in where he plays American author Gore Vidal. Despite the film already having been shot, Netflix said it would half post-production of the project and it would not be released.
Industry insiders are speculating that Spacey’s character will be killed off in the series, and the remaining episodes will focus on the character of his wife, played by Robin Wright.
Killing off Spacey’s character of Frank Underwood is not too big a stretch, the character dies in the books that series is based upon.
OIP Staff
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