Kevin Spacey is maintaining his innocence.
While taking the stand in his sexual misconduct civil trial, the House of Cards actor denied ever groping Anthony Rapp, calling the allegations "not true," according to NBC News.
Rapp, 50, filed the lawsuit in 2020 and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages up to $40 million. No criminal charges are involved.
During his testimony, Spacey, 63, also spoke about his childhood and his rocky relationship with his father, calling his upbringing "humiliating and terrifying," per Deadline.
"My father was a white supremacist and neo-Nazi," Spacey told the court, detailing how he was "forced to listen to hours and hours and hours" of his parent's hateful rhetoric. He also said he was too ashamed to bring over friends from school because he was worried his father would go on a racist tirade.
He reportedly added, "I have never talked about these things publicly. Ever,"
Spacey—who Rapp previously called a "fraud" for not coming out as gay until 2017—testified that he also grappled with his sexuality because his father's far-right views.
"My father used to yell at me about the idea I might be gay," he continued. "He would scream at me: ‘don't be a'… he would use an f word that was very derogatory to the gay community."
Addressing Rapp's "fraud" claim, Spacey insisted he wasn't being dishonest about who he was, just protective of himself.
"To call someone a 'fraud' is to, I guess, say that you think they are living a lie," he said, according to NBC News. "I wasn't living a lie. I was just reluctant to talk about my personal life."
Spacey added, "We have to have empathy... for everyone's process of coming out."
Rapp first came forward with his sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey in a 2017 BuzzFeed News article, publicly accusing the star of making unwanted sexual advances in 1986 when Rapp was just 14 years old. The Rent alum alleged that Spacey, then 26 years old, had invited him to a party at his place back in New York City where Spacey then put his body on top of his in a sexual manner at the gathering, which Rapp also testified about in court on Oct. 11.
In response to the Buzzfeed article, Spacey issued a statement on Twitter saying he didn't remember the encounter, but wrote that "if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."
However, during the 2022 trial, Spacey clarified that he put out the statement after his publicity team allegedly advised him that he would be labeled a victim blamer if he pushed back.
"I was being encouraged to apologize and I've learned a lesson which is never apologize for something you didn't do," the actor testified, according to CNN. "I regret my entire statement."
While Rapp was the first man to publicly accuse Spacey of sexual misconduct, he was not the only one. In 2018, Spacey faced a felony charge of indecent assault and battery, to which he plead not guilty. The charge was later dropped due to the "unavailability of the complaining witness," according to court documents obtained by E! News at the time.
Then, just this past May, the actor was formally charged with four counts of sexual assault against three men in the United Kingdom. During his June 16 court appearance at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Spacey was granted unconditional bail.
One month later, according to NPR, Spacey pled not guilty to these charges.