“Innocent until proven guilty.” That used to be the old standard with justice.
You didn’t condemn a man until he had been found guilty by a jury of his peers.
But six years ago, something happened that changed all that.
At least when it came to alleged sex crimes.
When the #MeToo movement erupted, we were suddenly told to “Believe all women” and “Believe all victims.”
As though no man or woman ever has any cause or desire to lie.
The serious accusations against Harvey Weinstein may have kicked off an overdue correction in the culture.
Some powerful men had gotten away with too much for too long.
But that did not mean that everyone who came forward with an accusation must from now on always be “believed.”
We should have known that long before Kevin Spacey was acquitted by a jury in London this week.
It is now six years since actor Anthony Rapp made one of the most serious accusations of the whole #MeToo era.
Working with a “journalist” at a blog site, Rapp claimed that more than 30 years earlier, when he was 14, Kevin Spacey had lain on top of him while drunk.
Because #MeToo was happening all around him, Spacey was forced into making a statement that not only sounded incriminating but in which he also “came out” as gay.
That made matters even worse, with people attacking him from all sides. Once the toast of Hollywood, suddenly he was a pariah.
His character got written out of TV’s “House of Cards” (so destroying that series).
Films he had finished either got reshot with other actors or were canned completely.
But how many people know that the Rapp claims were proven to be a lie in a New York court?
That is what happened last year after Rapp brought a civil case — seeking $40 million in damages — against Spacey.
For five years, everyone just assumed that Rapp had been telling the truth about the incident decades earlier.
But when those charges were tested in an American court, Spacey’s lawyers showed that Rapp was either lying or had a completely false memory.
On the stand, his case fell apart. Basic details turned out to be untrue or impossible.
It was shown that Rapp had conspired with the “journalist” to ensure that when the allegations were put to Spacey, they were as vague as possible.
Anyone who wants to know the details of this should listen to Ann McElhinney’s excellent new Spotify podcast “The Kevin Spacey Trial: Unfiltered.”
Yet, I wonder how many people who read the initial allegation against Spacey are even aware the actor was exonerated in the American courts?
Judging by responses to the latest trial this week, not many.
Because this week it was the turn of a British court to find Spacey not guilty.
These accusations (once again historic) were even weaker than the Rapp claim.
Four men had been found by the British police to make claims against Spacey. They were bundled into one court case.
And once again, the jury noticed the whole thing seemed to be made up.
Who knows why? Perhaps the money that at least one of the men had already tried to extort from Spacey was a reason.
Perhaps it was simply people wanting to get revenge? Or get a level of fame? Which is hardly something unheard of in modern culture.
And what of the claims themselves? They were outrageously weak.
Not just in their lack of evidence, but in the allegations made. One of the accusations effectively added up to what we used to call “a bad pass.”
Perhaps you have never made a pass at someone that was rejected. But many people have. It is a usually a matter for some embarrassment and blushing.
But a matter for the courts? Since when?
So the London jury joined its US peers in once again exonerating Spacey.
But now that all these false claims have been exposed and these trials are hopefully over, perhaps can our society start to ask some questions of itself?
Such as why we are so eager to rush to judgment — even, or especially, when it destroys a person’s life?
Making false allegations is a terrible thing to do. But it is also terrible to simply believe such allegations.
We cannot hold together as a society if we allow anyone with an accusation to be believed.
Last year, in a rare comment about his court appearance, Anthony Rapp told an audience that “a courtroom is not a safe space for trauma.”
What he should have said is that a courtroom is not a safe space for untrue claims. And nor should it be.
But we should also ask what it is about ourselves that so enjoys this rush to judgment.
Why are stories that bring people down always so much more popular than stories pulling people up?
Why is a salacious lie so much more effective than a detailed truth?
And why do we go through these stampedes where we get caught up as a society with wherever the herd is headed?
In the 1980s, this country went through a mad panic about satanic child sex abuse.
Innocent people went to prison for long periods because of claims that ended up being provably untrue.
American schoolchildren may all get taught about the Salem Witch Trials. But it isn’t clear that as a society we have learned anything from it.
Now that Spacey has been found innocent again, I hope, like all fans of film and stage, that he can rebuild his career. He is one of the most mesmerizingly talented actors of his generation.
But I hope we can also learn something as a society from this episode.
It isn’t right that powerful men should be able to get away with anything for their entertainment.
But nor should anyone be utterly destroyed for our entertainment.
“Believe all perpetrators” would be a slogan uttered only by a madman.
Let’s make sure “Believe all victims” gets consigned to the same category.
