Kevin Spacey Returns to TV, Tells Chris Cuomo That #MeToo Went ‘In the Direction of Unfairness’
House of Cards star Kevin Spacey returned to television on Thursday for an interview with NewsNation host Chris Cuomo, during which he protested that the #MeToo movement “swung very, very far in the direction of unfairness.”
Responding to the U.S. and U.K. sexual misconduct allegations against him – the majority of which were beaten by the actor in court – Spacey told Cuomo that he felt “very strongly that whatever mistakes I’ve made in my life, whatever choices I made that weren’t the best, that I paid a price. It’s been seven years.”
He continued, “I’m trying to show that I’ve listened, I’ve learned, I’ve got the memo, I’m not going to behave in any way in the future that is questionable, and that I’ve tried to spend these past seven years going into myself asking a lot of questions and listening, having conversations with people that I felt I owed amends to, and that at a certain point, I just want to get back to work.”
Spacey told Cuomo:
We live in a country that embraces and believes in due process and believes in the rule of law and fairness, and I think that we have to be cautious and look back and say, look, there was some tremendously important, valuable things, and an impact happened with the MeToo movement. That it was time and it was right. However, as these sort of pendulums swing from one side to the other, as you will know, I think it’s swung very, very far in the direction of unfairness and not allowing people– and I’m not just talking about myself, but a whole lot of people.
The actor then referenced Cuomo’s own experience with cancelation, telling the NewsNation host:
I mean, I know you had your own issues, and I’m glad to see that you’ve been offered a path back, but we have to also be careful to make sure that the pendulum now doesn’t swing so far in the other direction, even though I, and a lot of other people, believe it’s moving in the right direction, because we have to be conscious that the MeToo movement was an important one and a valued one.
“There’s a difference with you, though,” replied Cuomo, pointing out that many of Spacey’s allegations “went to trial.”
Cuomo added, “In terms of what was worthy of real cancellation, which is criminal assessment, you won. But for people, that’s not enough. So how do you believe you get to a better place?”
Spacey replied, “I have to work very hard on rebuilding the trust that some may have lost in me. I have to demonstrate every single day, in every single experience and environment that I’m in, that I have in fact listened. That I am ready to move forward.”
He concluded, “In some ways, my goal has actually changed, Chris. I used to always want to be just the best actor, and now I want to prove that I’m a man of great character.”
Watch above via NewsNation.
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