Kevin Spacey to pay $1m in House of Cards settlement over sexual misconduct claims

Kevin Spacey has been ordered to pay $1m (£791,000) to the production company behind hit drama series House of Cards, in a settlement involving sexual harassment allegations made against him by crewmembers.

The American actor, 64, was originally ordered to pay $31m in a judgment in 2021, after he was found to have breached his contract by violating a sexual harassment policy.

However, an agreement has since been reached to cut his debt by tens of millions in a new deal with production company Media Rights Capital (MRC), Puck reports.

As part of the settlement, Spacey will be invited to testify against MRC’s insurers to say he had been written out of the show on grounds of illness, therefore triggering the insurance policy. The company pointed to his checking into a rehabilitation facility known to treat sex addiction at the time.

It opens a new vista in the company’s complex ongoing litigation on its lost profits and increased expenses following the shortening and rewriting of the final season of House of Cards, as a result of Spacey’s exit.

MRC are expecting to collect a significant sum on a $150m policy from Fireman Fund’s Insurance as well as punitive damages for denying its claim, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Spacey was fired from the set of the popular political drama in 2017 following claims that he had harassed multiple male crewmembers and went on to win a series of court cases relating to the accusations.

The allegations came in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal that rocked Hollywood and sparked the #MeToo movement, where sexual misconduct survivors publicly called out their abusers.

Spacey has denied all allegations against him.

Staff on the set of House of Cards had accused the actor of making unwanted sexual advances. He has been cleared of a number of those allegations in court.

In October 2022, he was cleared of accusations made by Anthony Rapp that the actor had molested him in 1986. He was further found not guilty of a series of sexual offences brought by four men in Southwark Crown Court in July 2023.

Spacey was met with a standing ovation following a performance at Oxford University during a lecture on cancel culture in October last year.

The American Beauty actor has been working towards a career comeback following the accusations levelled against him, securing a role in British indie thriller Control alongside Lauren Metcalfe in 2022.

He will play a charismatic serial killer in the forthcoming feature film Peter Five Eight, a new trailer for which was released this week.

The thriller’s marketing tagline is: “The Guilty Always Pay The Price.” The movie focuses on a real estate agent living in a mountain community before Spacey’s character enters his life.

If you have been raped or sexually assaulted, you can contact your nearest Rape Crisis organisation for specialist, independent and confidential support. For more information, visit their website here.