Kevin Spacey showed up to court Thursday in Manhattan to represent himself in a civil suit brought by fellow actor Anthony Rapp.
Neither Spacey nor Rapp spoke to reporters as they headed into the federal courthouse.,
Rapp, in 2017, accused Spacey of attempting to seduce him in 1986 when he was a child actor following a party at Spacey's Manhattan apartment. The allegation set off a series of others against Spacey that all but ended his career, and left his hit show, House of Cards, without its lead actor for its sixth and final season.
Rapp first told his story to the Buzzfeed media website, saying Spacey, who was 26 at the time, had befriended him while they were working on Broadway. Spacey allegedly invited Rapp to his apartment for a party, and Rapp said that once all the other guests left, Spacey picked up the 14-year-old and placed him in his bed, climbing on top of him.
Spacey responded on Twitter, saying that he did not recall such an encounter, "but if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."
Rapp said he maintained his silence for three decades but felt compelled to come forward in the wake of the then-bombshell allegations that felled disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Thursday's proceedings kicked off jury selection. Opening statements will be delivered once that process concludes.
Spacey is also facing sexual assault charges in a London court and has been ordered by a Los Angeles court to pay $30.9 million to the creators of House of Cards for contract violations related to harassment of staff on the former Netflix hit show.
