Who Is Anthony Rapp? 'Rent' Actor Says Kevin Spacey Tried to Seduce Him When He Was Just a Boy

Kevin Spacey came out as gay and apologized to Anthony Rapp Sunday night after the Star Trek: Discovery actor accused the longtime movie star of sexual harassing him when he was 14 years old. Spacey was 26 at the time.

"I have a lot of respect and admiration for Anthony Rapp as an actor. I'm beyond horrified to hear his story," Spacey wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. "I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years."

Spacey went on: "I know that there are stories out there about me and that some have been fueled by the fact that I have been so protective of my privacy. As those closes to me know, in my life, I have had relationships with both men and women. I have loved and had romantic relationships with men throughout my life, and I choose now to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior."

Spacey, as one of the most well-known leading men in Hollywood, is a household name. His accuser is not as famous. His story of childhood abuse is harrowing, nevertheless.

Rapp, now 46, said Spacey invited him to a party at his apartment in New York City. Rapp said he mostly watched television but later found himself alone with Spacey. "My memory was that I thought, Oh, everybody's gone. Well, yeah, I should probably go home," Rapp said in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with Buzzfeed's Adam B. Vary. Spacey allegedly picked him up "like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold." "But I don't, like, squirm away initially, because I'm like, 'What's going on?' And then he lays down on top of me," Rapp said.

"He was trying to seduce me," Rapp alleged. "I don't know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually."

Rapp said he left Spacey's apartment but the moment stayed with him. "What was that? What am I supposed to do with it? What does it mean? The older I get, and the more I know, I feel very fortunate that something worse didn't happen. And at the same time, the older I get, the more I can't believe it. I could never imagine [that] anyone else I know would do something like that to a 14-year-old boy," he said.

Rapp went on to star on Broadway in the musical Rent, when he originated the role of "Mark Cohen" in 1996. He said he was motivated to come forward amid growing allegations of sexual assault against movie producer Harvey Weinstein. "Part of what allowed the Harvey situation to occur was that there was this witting and unwitting conspiracy of silence," Rapp said. "The only way these things can continue is if there's no attention being paid to it, if it's getting forgotten."

Rapp was born on October 26, 1971 in Joliet, Illinois. He also played Charlie Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown in 1999. Star Trek is his first major TV role.

"Knowing people who are real Trekkies, I would never put myself on that level. That would be a disservice to them," Rapp, who plays Lt. Paul Stamets, told the New York Post earlier this month. "I'm a fan. I've been a sci-fi fantasy geek since I was a little kid, and 'Star Trek' was one of the many things that I consumed."

He declined Monday to comment further on the Spacey allegations after Spacey came out as gay.

"Everything I wanted to say about my experience is in that article, and I have no further comment about it at this time," he tweeted early Monday morning after the BuzzFeed article went viral.