Netflix has said it will no longer work with Kevin Spacey amid mounting allegations of sexual harassment made against him.
The company announced the news via a statement on Saturday saying it is “evaluating” the future of the series and will no longer be moving forward with a planned Gore Vidal biopic that the Oscar winner was starring in.
“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 representative for the streamer said.
“We have also decided we will not be moving forward with the release of the film Gore, which was in postproduction, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey.”
Media Rights Capital also issued a statement soon after confirming Spacey has been suspended from the series.
“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,” the company said.
Netflix’s decision to part ways with the actor comes days after Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of unwanted sexual advances toward him in 1986, when Spacey was 26 and Rapp was 14.
Spacey issued a statement in which he said he did not remember the incident but “sincerely apologized” and in the same breath came out as a gay man.
A few days later, Netflix revealed that the upcoming sixth season of ‘House of Cards’ would be its last, but said the decision wasn’t because of the allegations made against Spacey.
THR reports that writers of the political drama are actively reworking the final season – to write Spacey out.
‘Gore’, directed by Michael Hoffman, is a biopic film based on Jay Parini’s 2015 biography, ‘Empire of Self: A Life of Gore Vidal’. It is focused on the period following Gore’s loss to Jerry Brown for the Democratic nomination to the US senate.
Netflix had planned a 2018 release for Gore.
