Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey, who in 2017 faced numerous sexual misconduct allegations that led to his firing from the Netflix series House Of Cards, faces more than $31 million in damages to the show’s production company. An arbiter ruled in court that Spacey owes the media company MRC, which produced numerous hits, including Cards and Ozark for Netflix, Hulu’s The Great, and the films Baby Driver and Knives Out, more than $29.5 million in lost revenue and $1.4 million in court and lawyer fees.
Per Deadline, arbitrator Bruce Friedman ruled in favor of MRC more than a year ago, in October 2020. However, it remained confidential until a three-judge arbitration panel denied Spacey’s motion for appeal.
The Arbitrator found that Spacey’s conduct constituted a material breach of his acting and executive producing agreements with MRC, and that his breaches excused MRC’s obligations to pay him any further compensation in connection with the Show. The Arbitrator further found that Spacey’s egregious breaches of contract proximately caused and rendered him (and his affiliated entities) liable for the tens of millions of dollars in losses MRC suffered when it had no choice, upon the revelations of Spacey’s pattern of harassment, to halt the production of Season 6 of the Show, to rewrite the entire season to omit Spacey’s character, and to shorten season 6 from 13 episodes to 8 to meet delivery deadlines.
Spacey’s career as one of America’s most beloved actors came to an end after actor Anthony Rapp came forward and accused Spacey of making sexual advances towards Rapp when the actor was 14. Afterward, CNN reported that eight House Of Cards crewmembers accused Spacey of sexual harassment and assault.
Since then, Spacey has mostly been out of the public eye, except for a sexual assault charge in 2018 and a series of cryptic YouTube videos in which Spacey reprises his House Of Cards character.
