The Boys Who Cried Wolf

Anthony Deane Rapp is a 50 year old actor ....

Anthony Deane Rapp

.... who currently plays the role of Lieutenant Commander Paul Stamets on the television series Star Trek: Discovery.

Personally he is an openly practising homosexual, and is reported as being engaged to his partner Ken Ithiphol (according to the pink news ... research takes me to strange places ... honest!) since 2016 .... but his current claim to fame is that in 2017, he made allegations of sexual harassment against fellow actor and homosexual Kevin Spacey.

The main thrust of the complaint that was that as he was a minor, aged just 14 at the time of the incident at a party in 1986, then this was paedophile behaviour as Mr Spacey was around 26 at he time. His legal action sought damages of around $40m (£36m). However after going to trial, as Mr Spacey denied ever touching the 14 year, admittedly homosexual boy, the jury in the 3 weeks civil (not criminal) court, took just over an hour to decide that Mr Rapp had not proved his claim.

Its actually rather surprising that after 31 years Mr Rapp had been advised by a lawyer to make a claim with any hope of any success .... after all, any sexual advance, if there was one, would presumably be when they were alone, so no witnesses, and as he presumably hadn't reported any such claim to his parents or friends at the time ... it was always going to be a shaky claim at best .... especially as it was up to him to prove the claim, as Mr Spacey is quite rightly presumed innocent .....

So why do it? Mr Spacey wouldn't have the $40m or anything like that, especially as he faces legal battles in both the USA and UK, after already being ordered to pay $31m to the producers of House of Cards for the costs they incurred after firing him from the show. Mr Rapp's allegations triggered similar allegations (but no other child abuse claims) from men on either side of the Atlantic ... these claims are all in various stages of legal action .... few, if won, will see much money, as Mr Spacey will be bankrupted long before the last one ends.

So why did Mr Rapp bother? Well as Mr Spacey's lawyer Jennifer Keller pointed out, Mr Rapp's "getting more attention in this trial than he has in his entire acting life" ....  she added that the whole story was a fabrication.

Now talking about trying to get publicity to boost a stage career, this reminded me somewhat of the Jussie Smollett affair, who was sentenced to 150 days in jail, and ordered to pay a fine of $145,000 (£110,000) for lying to the police about being the victim of a hate crime, which he actually paid two black acquaintances to stage (including placing a lynching rope around his neck... .... klu klux klan style). 

He claimed to be attacked in 2019, by two masked men in what he said was a both racist and homophobic manner, and that the attackers referred to 'MAGA,' the slogan used by Trump supporters, thus inferring that they were white Trump supporters .... ridiculously for this actor, seven hours after the alleged attack, police body cams show him still wearing his noose around his neck in his apartment ..... A police officer asked: "Do you want to take it off or anything?" ... Smollett replied: "Yeah I do, I just wanted you to see it." .... he later claimed that "If I had said [the attackers] was a Muslim, or a Mexican, or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me a lot much more."

Suspicions about his claims were raised from the start, as he was apparently physically "good" according to the police report. His continued refusal to allow police to freely examine his phone (he claimed he had been talking to his agent/manager when the attack took place), and his eventual handing over a redacted pdf file of his records also was odd. "I have private pictures and videos and numbers... my private emails, my private songs, my private voice memos."

The police eventually tracked down the two 'attackers', named as Obabinjo (Ola) and Abimbola (Abel) Osundairo, two black brothers originally from Nigeria, and not the white men suggested by Smollets 'MAGA' reference .... so bang went the 'racist' attack claim .... one leg down, and one to go. The two brothers had worked on Smollets show 'Empire' as extras, and sometimes had gone to the gym with the actor .... but the police initially released the Osundairo brothers without charge after their interviews.

But video footage, appearing to show the brothers buying materials, including ski masks, that had allegedly been worn by the people who attacked the actor, was found by reporter Charlie De Mar, and the police charged the actor with "disorderly conduct/filing a false police report"... black and gay support for Smollett started to crumble ... 

Jusse Smollet The Gay2Pac

 ... Rapper '50 Cent', who had previously supported Smollet, now posted a meme on Instagram, referencing the actor's "gay Tupac" comment. In the meme, he put Jussie Smollett's face over Tupac's on the album cover for All Eyez On Me - and changed the album name to "all liez on me".

Smollet eventually handed himself in to the police, and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson (who is black) says that Smollett "took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career," and that he was "dissatisfied with his salary". He also said that Smollet had sent a racist letter to himself at a Fox studio, and then paid the Osundairo brothers a cheque for $3,500 (£2,600) to stage the attack. The two brothers confirm being involved in the plot, and that they have "tremendous regret over their involvement in this situation".

But in a twist and after an emergency court appearance, all charges against Jussie Smollett are suddenly dropped. His lawyer says: "He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator." .... his record "has been wiped clean." The Illinois prosecutor Joe Magats, who had decided to drop the charges, then tells CBS News that he thinks Smollett is guilty, but that the charges were dropped because Smollet had forfeited a $10,000 (£7,600) bond payment, and carried out community service as an alternative form of compensation for his actions.

Chicago police Chief Johnson and the black Mayor Rahm Emanuel were both furious .... Chief Johnson, "At the end of the day, it is Mr Smollett who committed this hoax, period. If he wanted to clear his name, the way to do that is in a court of law so that everyone can see the evidence... I stand by the facts of what we produced." Mayor Emanuel said Jussie was "let off scot-free, with no sense of accountability for the moral and ethical wrong of his actions" later adding that it was "a whitewash of justice" and lashed out at Smollett for dragging the city's reputation "through the mud" .... so no friends made there then.

US President Donald Trump tweeted his thoughts on the case, calling it "outrageous" and an "embarrassment to the nation," this after he had supported Smollett when the initial claim had been made ... he instructed the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate. While the Chicago police order Smollet to pay $130,000 (£99,000) to cover the cost of police officers, including overtime worked on the case, as the time wasted reviewing video and physical evidence, could have been better spent on other real investigations.

Smollett refused, so the police sued for three times that amount .... while Jussie Smollett's legal team is also sued for defamation by the Osundairo brothers - who say they continue to be accused of carrying out a racist and homophobic attack against the actor when it was all faked.

Smollets show Empire continued for one more season without him, amongst falling ratings ... its not renewed. In November 2021 Smollett goes to trial on the six new charges issued by Special prosecutor Dan Webb. During the trial Smollett repeatedly denies being involved in a "hoax", and says he did not call immediately call the police because "as a black man in America, I don't trust the police, I'm sorry". He adds that he was involved in a sexual relationship with Abel Osundairo before the alleged attack.

The jury find him guilty of five of the six counts of disorderly conduct, meaning that the last one had not been proven in court. So on March the 10th, 2022, three years after the hoax attack and first police report, and at a cost of millions of dollars in police and lawyers time, the publicity seeking Jussie Smollett was sentenced to 150 days jail time and ordered to pay a fine of $145,000 (£110,000) including 30 months of probation.

Smollet raises his fist in a black power salute as he is taken to prison, but on March the 16th, 2022, an Illinois appeals court ordered that Smollett be released from jail, upon his posting of a $150,000 personal recognisance bond, pending the outcome of the appeal of his conviction .... so he apparently intends to continue with the charade .....

So has it worked? Well as he hasn't worked as an actor since 2018, but has directed a low budget gay movie B-Boy Blues which released in November 2021 to no notice, so I would say not .... its also something of a mystery as to how he is funding his legal costs (if I was his lawyers I'd want money up front for every session) ..... its hard to see where he delusionaly thinks this is going to end as a victory for him and his career ... he's now simply poison. 

When sentencing, Cook County Judge James Linn told Smollett "You turned your life upside down by your misconduct and shenanigans. There's nothing that any sentencing judge can do to you that would compare to the damage you've already caused yourself."

So with all that in mind .... will Mr Rapp suffer any career consequences after his failed attempt to get $40m (£36m) in compensation from Mr Spacey? Will he appeal, or will he decide to let the matter drop, and just hope that his career continues undamaged? He has Jussie Smollet as an example of the stupidity of continuing relentlessly ... Smollett has now trapped himself with his own lies, and now can find no way off his current path. 

Update 26/07/2023: Mr Spacey was found not guilty of of nine sex offences against four men at London's Southwark Crown Court. He still faces further legal actions in the US but it just shows how difficult Mr Rapp's case was going to be with no evidence.