Kevin Spacey may not be back back, but he is indeed back, having been found not guilty in his 2023 sex offense trial. But that doesn’t mean he’s even close to being welcomed completely by Hollywood, an industry that Spacey says isn’t nearly as forgiving as it pretends to be.
Appearing on The Lex Fridman Podcast, Kevin Spacey said, “I live in an industry in which there is a tremendous amount of conversation about redemption, from a lot of people who are very serious people in very serious positions who believe in it. That guy who finally got out of prison who was wrongly accused…We see so many people saying, ‘Let’s find a path for that person. Let’s help that person rejoin society.’ But there is an odd situation if you are in the entertainment industry, you are not offered that kind of a path. And I hope that the fear that people are experiencing will eventually subside and common sense will get back to the table.”
Kevin Spacey has found confidants in the likes of Liam Neeson and Sharon Stone, but widespread support seems highly unlikely. As he put it, “I don’t think it’s about the industry. I think it’s about our time. I think it’s the time we are in. And people are very afraid. They are literally afraid that they’re going to get canceled if they stand up for someone who has been. We’ve seen this many times in history, this is not the first time it’s happened.”
Even still, Kevin Spacey is trying to give the comeback a go, starring in thriller Peter Five Eight…which came and went just about as quickly as everybody thought it would. There, too, is The Contract, in which he plays The Devil…Long gone are the high-profile projects and awards recognition; instead, Spacey will very likely be relegated to forgettable fare with actors and directors who don’t mind defending him.
What do you make of Kevin Spacey’s remarks about Hollywood? Does he raise a good point about the mindset of the industry? Give us your take in the comments section below.