Two weeks ago, House of Cards star Kevin Spacey was outed as yet another perpetrator of sexual abuse within Hollywood. At first, he stood accused of committing just one inappropriate act - coming on to an underage Anthony Rapp back in 1986 - to which he responded by offering a rather halfhearted apology on Twitter. "I honestly do not remember the encounter," wrote the 58-year-old actor, before going on to say: "I want to deal with this honestly and openly". [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/KevinSpacey/status/924848412842971136]] However, it quickly transpired that Spacey has not been open or honest about a lot of things, as a second accuser, Tony Montana, came forward within a matter of days. Following that, eight House of Cards employees revealed that they, too, had experienced some form of sexual aggression from Spacey, ranging from "inappropriate contact" to "predatory behavior". A former assistant on the show said: "All the crew members commented on his behavior. What gets me is we have to sign sexual harassment paperwork before the start of the show and apparently [Spacey] doesn't have to do anything and he gets away scott-free with this behavior." Now, after a 15th person has gone public with assault allegations against Spacey, people are offering their thoughts on what this means for his career, and - to a larger extent - Hollywood culture in general. Bryan Cranston, best known for his role as Walter White in Breaking Bad, was particularly direct with his opinion on the American Beauty star. "He's a phenomenal actor, but he's not a very good person," Cranston said in an interview with Newsbeat. "His career now I think is over." He went on to say that: "There's a disorder among all those people who use their power, their place or their status in any industry to overpower someone and force someone to do something that they don't want to do. It's beyond disgusting. It's almost animalistic.

"It's a form of bullying. It's a form of control. It's almost always [done to] young vulnerable men and women who are starting their career."

But Cranston is hopeful that what has happened with Spacey will bring about a more positive change for the future of Hollywood and other power hierarchies.

"That sort of experience goes unchecked until something like this happens," he said.

"The pillars of what were are falling. Everything is being exposed. Women and men should not have to tolerate misbehavior just because of their youth and inexperience.

"The silver lining is we’re not accepting behavior like that just because it’s the way it’s always been."

Spacey has already lost out on a major film role because of the allegations. His part as oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty in the film All the Money in the World is being completely re-shot with Christopher Plummer taking over the role. Netflix have also distanced themselves from the disgraced Hollywood star, abandoning plans to make a documentary with him and cancelling House of Cards. Since Tweeting his original apology back on October 30th, Spacey has offered no further comment on the allegations brought against him, nor has he taken accountability for his actions. It seems likely that Cranston's prediction will turn out to be correct - and so it should. Hollywood abuse has been allowed to go on for too long now, and those who perpetuate it should be brought to justice.

In October last year, following a litany of allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, actor Kevin Spacey made headlines after it was alleged that he had sexually assaulted Anthony Rapp. Rapp, who was just 14 years old at the time of the incident, said that Spacey had come on to him while intoxicated at a party.

Initially, Spacey attempted to paint the encounter as a one-off mistake, saying:

"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 behaviour, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years."

Since then, however, a lot more about his past has come to light - and his former co-stars are still coming to terms with it.

Robin Wright, who starred alongside the 58-year-old as his on-screen wife in Netflix's House of Cards, has recently come forward to say that she had no idea what Spacey was like off-set.

On The Today Show, Wright was asked if she ever saw any "red flags" that would have hinted at Spacey's dark personal life, but the actress - who is now due to take over as the lead character on the political drama - said that she could never have known.

"Kevin and I knew each other between action and cut. And in between setups, where we would giggle," she said. "I didn’t really... I didn’t know the man. I knew the incredible craftsman that he is."

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This claim will surprise many of those who worked on House of Cards, as the show's crew have previously said that Spacey's behaviour was known about, and was even joked about on some occasions.

The showrunner, Beau Willimon, has previously made statements similar to Wright's, and last year claimed: "During the time I worked with Kevin Spacey on House of Cards, I neither witnessed nor was aware of any inappropriate behavior on set or off."

However, in a conversation with Buzzfeed, another crew member said:

"I saw that Beau said he had no idea, which I know is completely false. They had production meetings about Spacey’s flirtatious behaviour toward crew and cast, and it never made it any further than that. It was like a joke."

Of course, though, it is impossible to know what some people saw and decided to keep quiet, and what others genuinely never observed for themselves.

In the time since the allegations first emerged, Wright has been at the forefront of making sure that House of Cards still goes ahead without the disgraced actor.

Patricia Clarkson, who plays Jane Davis in the series, said that the actress is the main reason fans will get to enjoy another season:

"It was truly the great Robin Wright rallying. We have beautiful showrunners… and they killed themselves to rethink the whole show. It’s only eight episodes.

"Robin led all of this charge so that people would save their livelihoods because when the show goes away some people don’t get paid."

As of yet, no formal charges have been brought against Spacey.

At the beginning of this week, Kevin Spacey made headlines for all the wrong reasons when it emerged that he had made inappropriate sexual advances to a 14-year-old boy in 1986. His accuser was Anthony Rapp - now 46 - an actor and Broadway performer. After offering a halfhearted apology (which focused more on his sexuality and his excuse that he was drunk than the fact that he came onto an underage boy), Spacey seemed to think that the matter was over and done with. However, just days later, another Hollywood personality came forward and claimed he was groped by the American Beauty star in 2003. Since then, even more people have made statements that Spacey behaved inappropriately towards them, and yesterday it transpired that eight of his fellow House of Cards co-workers had complaints about the 58-year-old actor. As a result, Netflix have severed their ties with him. In a statement released by the film and TV subscription service, a spokesperson said: "Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey. "We will continue to work with MRC [series producer Media Rights Capital] during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show." However, even before the allegations came to light, there was word that the current season of House of Cards would be the final one anyway. But that wasn't the only show that Spacey was working on with Netflix. "We have also decided we will not be moving forward with the release of the film Gore, which was in post-production, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey," said the spokesperson. The film in question was a biopic about the American writer Gore Vidal, who passed away in 2012. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/brandonwrites/status/926723231935066112]] MRC also released a statement in light of the accusations that have been levelled against Spacey, saying that they are "deeply troubled" to learn of his actions, and that "maintaining a safe working environment for [their] cast and crew has always been our top priority". They also mentioned a previous incident involving Spacey, which was apparently dealt with immediately after it happened: "During our first year of production in 2012, someone on the crew shared a complaint about a specific remark and gesture made by Kevin Spacey. Immediate action was taken following our review of the situation and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved. Mr. Spacey willingly participated in a training process and since that time MRC has not been made aware of any other complaints involving Mr. Spacey." One production assistant involved with the show was actually banned from working with the actor after he complained about Spacey's "inappropriate touching". "I have no doubt that this type of predatory behavior was routine for him and that my experience was one of many and that Kevin had few if any qualms about exploiting his status and position," the assistant said. "It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors." Spacey himself has yet to comment on any of the accusations that have emerged after Rapp's original allegation, but many people are using the incidents - along with the recent news of Harvey Weinstein's abusive behaviour - to highlight the insidious problem of sexual assault and manipulation in Hollywood. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/bergopolis/status/926665994453397504]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/dunwaIl/status/926803430429089792]] [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/CalumNorth/status/926748253072355328]] Spacey's agent and publicist have also dropped the actor, making it very clear that his actions are utterly intolerable - and should be regarded as such in all industries.

The allegations of sexual assault, harassment and misconduct leveled against producer Harvey Weinstein were bad enough, but the revelations about his case led to many other people coming forward about their own stories of abuse at the hands of Hollywood's most powerful men. After actor Anthony Rapp accused Kevin Spacey of being inappropriate with him when he was only 14 years old, with one event ending with the older man "laying down on top of him", the House of Cards actor became the subject of public scrutiny. These claims were further strengthened by numerous other people who came forward to speak about Spacey's behavior, leading to his popularity with audiences plummeting. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/Ba26hBGlZvX/?taken-by=kevinspacey]] Not long after, the director of Spacey's latest movie All The Money In The World made a bold decision. Ridley Scott surprised many by conducting extensive reshoots for the already-finished movie, completely replacing Spacey with Christopher Plummer last minute. The reshoots themselves sparked a debate about the pay gap in Hollywood, but most audiences were glad that such a decision was made. It has left some other productions in a sticky situation, however, especially when it comes to the TV series House of Cards. Many wondered whether Netflix would just cancel the show, given how much it focused on the Spacey's character, Frank Underwood. Instead, they announced their intentions to move forward with the sixth and final season of the show without Spacey at all. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BCeGzk5ilI5/?taken-by=kevinspacey]] In early 2017, it was revealed that the cost of the streaming service severing its relationship with him being in the millions. For its fourth fiscal quarter, it announced a write-down of $39 million. And while the reasons for this reduction in value weren't stated, a source familiar with the accounting in this case confirmed that "the write-down accounted for the final episodes of House of Cards". [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BTDElSLjOJ8/?taken-by=kevinspacey]] "These types of business write-downs are an ongoing facet … of producing content," Netflix CFO David Wells stated. "We just hadn’t had one of this magnitude and related to the societal reset around sexual harassment, so it was somewhat unusual in that respect." [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BWfgyVpjN4k/?taken-by=kevinspacey]] So how will they move forward? It has been previously said that they would go ahead with lead actress Robin Wright headlining the final season. But now the production has named its latest replacements to fill the gap left by Spacey's departure from the project, with two respected actors joining the fray. As production began on the final eight episodes this week, it was revealed that both Diane Lane and Greg Kinnear will be joining the next series. They will join returning cast members Michael Kelly, Patricia Clarkson, Constance Zimmer, Jayne Atkinson, Derek Cecil and Campbell Scott. [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/nVK31pur5g/?hl=en&taken-by=gregkinnearfans]] [[instagramwidget||https://www.instagram.com/p/BejsJs6Hdtr/?hl=en&taken-by=dianelanereal]] Kinnear was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for As Good As It Gets in 1998, while Lane was nominated for Best Actress for her film Unfaithful. No official description of their characters has been confirmed yet, but they are said to play "key roles", with some reports saying that they will play brother and sister. There has been no premiere date announced to the public yet, with many wondering exactly how it's all going to work. We'll have to wait and see.

Kevin Spacey, the actor who was involved in such classics films as American Beauty, more recently known for his role as Frank Underwood on House of Cards, is the latest to be toppled by the unfolding sexual assault and harassment saga going on in the media and entertainment industries. In a nigh-constant news cycle following which actor, journalist or celebrity has been revealed this week, it seems that dozens of household names are yet to be fully exposed for their past actions. Kevin Spacey was accused this weekend of sexual harassment by actor Anthony Rapp. Rap alleges that when he was 14 years old, a 26 year old Kevin Spacey "climbed on top of him", and made an advance. Rapp said: “My stomach churns...I still to this day can’t wrap my head around so many aspects of it. It’s just deeply confusing to me.” [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/KevinSpacey/status/924848412842971136]] Spacey has replied with an apology on Twitter, saying that he does not recall the "drunken" encounter, but that if he did do this, he apologizes. Spacey then followed up with a strange paragraph announcing publicly that he is gay, and has lived "as a gay man", which conflates the sexual harassment of minors with his being gay. Now, plenty of media and entertainment figures have responded publicly to Spacey's harassment claims and apology. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/billyeichner/status/924867215459012608]] Columnist Dan Savage, long an advocate of gay rights, said: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/fakedansavage/status/924862060562857984]] A writer on Samantha Bee's Comedy Central show noted the bizarre deflection attempt by Spacey: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/Travon/status/924860773951733761]] A writer and producer who worked with Spacey on House of Cards said this: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/BeauWillimon/status/925016121631301633]] Sociologist Eve Ewing wrote: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/eveewing/status/925003859017187328]] Comedian Tim Young also noted that Family Guy, years ago, had made a joke about Kevin Spacey keeping a minor in his basement. It appears that this could have been another "open secret" shared among some clandestine portions of Hollywood: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/TimRunsHisMouth/status/925008752729784321]] Overall, the reaction appears to be frustration with the fact that Spacey came out as gay in the same breath that he apologized for sexually harassing a minor. For centuries, the notion of gay men being pedophiles has been a harmful myth used to correlate homosexuality to general harassment and unnatural relationships. By explaining away his advances toward a minor by evoking his closeted sexuality, he makes a cynical move that throws LGBTQ people under the bus. In fact, it's the very same argument that Milo Yiannopoulos made earlier this year, which essentially ended his brief career as a half-accepted pundit. Milo said that older gay men ofter have relationships with younger gay men, usually while closeted or 'experimenting' with their sexuality. Milo was condemned for promoting sex with minors, and worse, for aligning sex with minors with homosexuality. Now, Kevin Spacey has done exactly what Milo described: as an adult, he come onto a minor, and like Milo, he tried to make it a question of sexuality, instead of a very clear difference from sexuality into criminality. Being gay cannot be used as a shield. Being gay has nothing to do with being attracted to minors.