Anthony Rapp, currently starring as an openly gay engineer in "Star Trek: Discovery," recently told the world of the time he had been sexually assaulted, at age 14, by mega-successful A-list actor Kevin Spacey, who has starred in movies like "American Beauty" and "Se7en." While reactions have generally been sympathetic, there's been a substantial amount of blowback against Rapp, especially on Twitter. See this site for specifics, and note the hilarious lack of self-awareness among Rapp's attackers: imagine if Rapp were a woman instead. Would gibes like this be tolerated? Aren't we supposed to automatically, reflexively, unquestioningly believe someone when that person claims to have been sexually harassed, attacked, etc.?*
Spacey, for his part, apparently hasn't denied that the attack may have occurred, and in a suspiciously timed pronouncement, he has finally come out as gay—one of Hollywood's most open of open secrets. Spacey's hit TV series, "House of Cards," now moves into its sixth and final season. We can only wonder whether the finality of the final season has anything to do with Rapp's outing of Spacey.
*If this question seems sarcastically over-the-top to you, you're not hallucinating. Libertarian-leaning Instapundit has spent a lot of time and column-inches, over the past few years, sowing doubt into the minds of the public by publishing and pursuing story after story of false claims of rape and assault on US college campuses. Each false claim brought up on Instapundit has proven demonstrably false, thus spreading skepticism more widely about rape/assault claims in general. This doesn't mean I sympathize with Rapp's attackers, but it does mean that we need to stick to the old standard of "innocent until proven guilty" before passing definitive judgment. At the same time, you're certainly entitled to your opinion based on your own interpretation of the evidence... but when the evidence begins to weigh heavily in a certain direction, your opinion needs to change according to the accumulating facts.
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