RFK Jr. Lands Coveted Kevin Spacey Endorsement

While Joe Biden and Donald Trump have kept their in-person campaigning to a minimum so far this election cycle, third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has done everything he can do steal the spotlight, holding event after event with celebrity supporters. Now he can add another to the roster: actor Kevin Spacey.

Spacey, who faced more than a dozen accusations of sexual misconduct or assault since the #MeToo movement gripped the culture in 2017, appeared to indicate in a tweet on Monday that Kennedy had been there for him at his lowest. “There’s a lot I can learn from this man,” Spacey wrote, sharing a 30-minute Kennedy ad that the campaign claims Facebook and Instagram parent Meta is trying to censor. (Meta said that the link to the video was blocked for about a day because it was incorrectly flagged as spam.) “When the world turned its back on me, Bobby leaned in,” Spacey told his followers, adding that Kennedy is a “formidable fighter for justice and a loyal friend that’s not afraid to stand up for what he believes.”

The allegations against Spacey have recently been examined in a two-part documentary from British broadcaster Channel 4, Spacey Unmasked, which includes interviews with 10 men who accused him of inappropriate behavior or abuse.

Spacey’s legal woes arising from the various assault allegations, which he has denied, seem to be behind him at this point. Two U.S. criminal cases didn’t go forward (in one case because the accuser died); he was acquitted in a U.K. trial last year; and he successfully defended against a lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp, who claims that Spacey made a sexual advance on him in 1986, when he was 14 years old and Spacey was 26. Spacey also paid $1 million to settle arbitration on his alleged sexual harassment of crew members during the production of Netflix series House of Cards — a payout greatly reduced from an initial $31 million judgment.

Yet his reentry into public life has been bumpy, perhaps in part because, while a pariah of the entertainment industry, Spacey shared creepy (if not downright threatening) Christmas greeting videos in which he addressed viewers as his House of Cards character, the Machiavellian politician Frank Underwood. More recently, he has taken roles in little-noticed indie films and received a standing ovation for his performance of a Shakespeare scene at a “cancel culture” event held by the University of Oxford.

Kennedy, whom Spacey called a “loyal friend,” did not appear to immediately tout or even acknowledge the warm words from the tarnished actor. It’s also not clear how he “leaned in” as Spacey’s reputation cratered in 2017.

However, the anti-vax candidate is hardly a stranger to controversy. Married to Curb Your Enthusiasm actress Cheryl Hines, he has put Hollywood figures front and center during his run — Woody Harrelson narrates the ad that Spacey shared, for example. These two elements of the campaign have seen Kennedy align himself with any number of “canceled” celebrities who relate to his rhetoric about censorship and free speech (or at least appreciate his offer of an open forum).

These include Russell Brand, a comic-turned-conspiracy-theorist who has been accused of rape, sexual assault, and abuse by multiple women and has interviewed Kennedy. (He denies the allegations, the subject of two ongoing police investigations in the U.K.) Brand will appear as a special guest of the candidate at a “Night of Country & Comedy” fundraiser in Nashville on May 15. Motivational speaker and life coach Tony Robbins, whom Kennedy approached at least twice when considering his pick for vice president, has been accused of sexual harassment and assaults dating back to the 1980s. (He denies the claims and has not faced any legal consequences). Comedian Bobby Lee, known for repeatedly telling a story about having sex with a “scared” young Tijuana prostitute as she cried (he later claimed it was a fabrication) has taken the stage at Kennedy events and given him a platform on his podcast TigerBelly. Eight women have accused actor Jeremy Piven, another Kennedy fundraiser performer, of sexual assault and misconduct. (He, too, denies those allegations and has not been criminally charged or sued.)

Of course, not all of Kennedy’s well-known backers have such scandals to their credit — some are apparently just unpleasant. Former Saturday Night Live cast member and Kennedy supporter Rob Schneider was reportedly pulled offstage during a comedy set at a Republican networking event late last year when attendees were offended by his vulgar material. Schneider denied that his routine had been cut short, but in any case, the Kennedy camp kept him on the bill for a fundraiser scheduled soon after unflattering descriptions of the show emerged. That event must have gone somewhat better, because Schneider is among the comedians listed for the upcoming Nashville party with Russell Brand.

Will Spacey eventually join this tour group of the usual suspects, perhaps to offer politically charged recitations of Shakespeare or riff with the crowd as Frank Underwood? Don’t be surprised if it happens. Kennedy is drawing on star power wherever he can find it — and Spacey seems keen to regain an audience under any conditions.

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