Don’t Assume Your Well-Being Will Be Safe Despite Constant ‘Smoke’ (Accusations)

Where there is the constant smoke of accusations, there has to be fire…right? With decorated actor Kevin Spacey, who knows, but it doesn’t look good for him to have more claims of sexual misconduct. He denies them.

“I can’t go through this again,” Spacey said, “allowing myself to be baselessly attacked without defending myself.”

When a person feels unjustly accused and vilified, they may decide to do as Spacey has done and is doing, which is say to themselves and the world, something along the lines of, this is so wrong and I’m not going to sit idly by and let liars continue to convince people of outrageous lies about me.

Last July, a London jury acquitted Spacey on sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years, Pan Pylas for the Associated Press has reported. “The court victory was his second since he saw off a $40 million lawsuit in 2022 in New York brought by ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ actor Anthony Rapp.”

The documentary “Spacey Unmasked” will be aired May 6 and 7 in Britain and streamed on Max in the U.S. It will feature testimony from men regarding events between 1976 and 2013, Spacey says.

Spacey can’t seem to escape more attacks on his behavior, going back decades and up until the last decade. Could some of the stories actually be factual? With so many claims, there has to truth, correct?

Or is that another baseless assumption? Yes, It could be false.

“I take full responsibility for my past behavior and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologize to anyone who’s made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me,” he added. “I’ve never told someone that if they give me sexual favors, then I will help them out with their career, never.”

What does “full responsibility” and “exaggerated stories” mean? I ask not to condemn but to seek clarification. People do tell lies to bring down people whom they feel owe them something. It is also true that lecherous people can have a long list of people whom they victimized, without consequences and punishment.

Yet questionable behavior in the eyes of critics does not automatically mean that crimes or moral victimization occurred. We may want it to be that way but objectivity may not prove wrongdoing.

Wordplay however creates added doubt.

“I’ve clearly hooked up with some men, who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me,” Spacey admits, adding that. “But there was no conversation with me, it was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail, because I wasn’t in on the deal.”

Spacey could be pleading ignorance or revealing that he has used people — or he could be leaving out the totality of the communication and clarity that he had with his sexual partners.

Spacey remains on the defensive, flexing his legal victories.

Each time I have been given the time and a proper forum to defend myself, the allegations have failed under scrutiny and I have been exonerated,” he said.

Spacey does have legal triumphs to back him up. Of course, winning in court does not mean that mistreatment of people didn’t happen. It can show that the court system worked well for the accused. That happens.

Maybe the claims were always lies. Or maybe Spacey won because he could afford to hire highly-skilled and experienced, elite-level attorneys to explain away his behavior that was in the gray area or wrong.

Spacey’s career has suffered, even after being acquitted of all criminal charges, describing his experience as a “life sentence,” Pylas reported.

If we are to believe everything the actor has told us, then his career has been unjustly damaged and he has had exciting opportunities and millions and millions of dollars denied him. If we believe some of the accusations have to be factual, then Spacey has contributed heavily to his career, financial, relationships and mental health misery.

Michael Toebe

Michael Toebe

Previous
Previous

Staying Emotionally Balanced in Challenging Experiences

Next
Next

Why Not Attending to People's Trauma and Pain is a Reckless Reputation Decision