The Huge Amount Of Money Kevin Spacey Has Been Ordered To Pay House Of Cards Production

Kevin Spacey had been a staple in Hollywood since the 1980s and, 30 years later, his status as an acclaimed actor seemed to be going nowhere by up. The "American Beauty" star continued to ride the crest of success in the mid-2010s, playing the cunning Frank Underwood in the Netflix hit series "House of Cards." Spacey was still reveling in his 2015 Golden Globe and 2016 Screen Actors Guild Award win when the cards came tumbling down.

On October 29, 2017, as the #MeToo movement was garnering strength, actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of "trying to seduce" him in 1986, when he was 14 and Spacey 26, BuzzFeed News reported. Spacey shared a statement on Twitter the following day in which he both apologized to Rapp (while also claiming not to remember the encounter) and came out as gay. The actor received immediate backlash for seemingly using his identity to justify alleged sexual abuse of a minor and change the conversation, as CNN noted. "Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out," actor Billy Eichner tweeted on October 30 to the tune of 118k likes.

Following the criticism and a growing list of accusers, Netflix announced that it was dropping Spacey on November 4, 2017, ahead of the final season of "House of Cards," (via The Washington Post). Now, the actor is set to pay millions to the show's production studio.

Kevin Spacey faced several legal actions after the allegations of sexual misconduct came to light. One of them was filed by Media Rights Capital in 2019, the studio that produced the Netflix show "House of Cards," which accused Spacey of breaching his contract by violating its sexual harassment policy, The Hollywood Reporter reported on November 22. In the suit, MRC alleged Spacey of "groping" one of the show's production assistants, as THR detailed. 

Spacey countersued, arguing the allegations of sexual misconduct had been blown out of proportion. The case was submitted to an arbitrator, who is now ordering Spacey to pay $31 million to MRC in damages, attorney's fees, and other costs, People reported on November 22. "The safety of our employees, sets and work environments is of paramount importance to MRC and why we set out to push for accountability," MRC said in a statement (via People).

MRC contended that Spacey's actions led to his being written out of "House of Cards," causing "substantial losses" for the production studio. As of the time of writing, Spacey had yet to comment on the matter. The petition filed by MRC stated that it had "no knowledge whatsoever" of the allegations against Spacey until media reports surfaced in late 2017, People detailed. Celebrity Net Worth estimates that Spacey is worth $70 million, which means that the court order amounts to nearly half his fortune.