Kevin Spacey has been suspended from Netflix’s House of Cards, Variety reports. Media Rights Capital, which is producing the show—and also produced Baby Driver, which Spacey appeared in—made the decision in the wake of a whirlwind of allegations of sexually predatory behavior by Spacey that emerged over the past week. Those allegations, which began when actor Anthony Rapp came forward to say that Spacey made sexual advances toward him when he was 14, include turning the set of House of Cards into a toxic environment and allegedly sexually assaulting a production assistant. Spacey’s suspension is reportedly a legally-required first step before he can be terminated. MRC announced the suspension in a statement:
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.
Netflix, which distributes House of Cards, announced Friday that they would not distribute any future version of the show that included Spacey, and furthermore that an upcoming Gore Vidal biopic starring Spacey would be cancelled. (The film, written and directed by Michael Hoffman, shot this summer in Rome and Ravello.) This may not be the end of House of Cards, however: In addition to the “creative path forward” mentioned in the MRC statement, Netflix, in their own statement, left the door open for continuing without Spacey:
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.
Paths forward reportedly include several Spacey-free spinoff ideas. Spacey, who was dropped by his longtime publicist Staci Wolfe and his agency CAA this week, is reportedly seeking unspecified “evaluation and treatment.”
