Shamed actor Kevin Spacey has found a lone defender in the form of veteran journalist and author Gay Talese, who has described himself as being ‘so sad’ the actor’s career is over.
Speaking at the annual Library Lions Gala an New York City Library, Talese, 85, told Vanity fair he ‘hated’ actor Anthony Rapp for making allegations that ‘ruined’ Spacey’s career.
He added, according to Vanity Fair: ‘So, O.K., it happened 10 years ago . . . Jesus, suck it up once in a while!’
‘I would like to ask Spacey how it feels to lose a lifetime of success and hard work all because of 10 minutes of indiscretion 10 years or more ago.’
‘You know something, all of us in this room at one time or another did something we’re ashamed of. The Dalai Lama has done something he’s ashamed of.’
It is not clear if Talese, author of 13 books, was aware of any other allegations against Spacey when he made the comments.
Talese has reported for The New York Times and is best known for his landmark profile of Frank Sinatra, a 15,000-word epic which appeared in Esquire in 1966 and is widely regarded as a model for the expansive and self-consciously literary ‘New Journalism’ of the ’60s and ’70s.
MailOnline has contacted a representative for Gay Talese for further comment. #
Veteran journalist and author Gay Talese, 85, told Vanity Fair he felt ‘so sad’ about Kevin Spacey’s demise during a party at New York City Library
Shamed actor Spacey, now 58, was accused of making inappropriate sexual advances to Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp who was 14 at the time
Kevin Spacey’s behaviour has come under the spotlight since Star Trek actor Anthony Rapp, 46, alleged Spacey made inappropriate sexual advances toward him in 1986, when he was 14.
Spacey, 58, responded by saying he doesn’t remember the encounter but if he acted the way Rapp alleges, ‘I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.’
He also spoke publicly for the first time about being gay, which draw backlash from some observers as an attempt at deflection.
Since Rapp made his allegations, Spacey has been hit by at least 13 other claims, with eight men on the record and another six revealing their run-ins with the actor anonymously.
Rapp claimed he was at a party at Spacey’s apartment when the actor climbed on top of him and made sexual advances
Accusers: Harry Dreyfuss (L) and Daniel Beal (R) are among the 14 men accusing the Glengarry Glen Ross actor of unwanted advances
Others accusing Spacey include Richard Dreyfus’s son Harry, who said in a November 4 BuzzFeed piece that Spacey grasped at his genitals – with his father in the room – in 2008 in London at Spacey’s apartment there.
Harry wrote, ‘Kevin Spacey is a sexual predator. But I still never thought talking about it seriously was ever an option.’
A filmmaker named Tony Montana, speaking with USA TODAY November 1, said the American Beauty actor ‘grabbed my whole package … hard’ at a bar in Los Angeles fourteen years ago, telling him at the time, ‘This designates ownership.’
Talese is best known for his epic profile of Frank Sinatra and a founding father of the ‘new journalism’
And on Wednesday, a bartender named Daniel Beal revealed to the DailyMail.com of a run-in he had as a 19-year-old bartender serving the K-PAX actor at a hotel in West Sussex.
Beal said of Spacey: ‘He pulled my hand towards his crotch area, and then as I said, ‘What the hell are you doing,’ he could not get his genitalia out quick enough.’
Beal said Spacey ultimately gave him a $6,500 watch in what he perceived to be an effort to keep him quiet about the alleged assault.