Brendan O'Neill authored this article entitled, "Kevin Spacey is Innocent." It seems to me to be mistitled because what it really argues is "We Don't Know If Kevin Spacey is Guilty." That's not the same thing.
The article is very critical of those who think he might have done it even though Kevin Spacey seems to think he might have done it. His statement, after all, said "I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago. But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."
That's not "I didn't do it." That's "I might have done it."
And so what if it was over 30 years ago? I think most of us can say with great confidence whether we tried to molest an underage boy at any period in our lives. There's something deeply wrong (or at least suspicious) with someone who isn't sure…and here's where my personal prejudice against drunks might be kicking in. If Spacey did it, obviously he is a bad person for that. But I also think that of people who get so shitfaced drunk or stoned that they aren't in control of their own actions. A dear friend of mine was killed by a drunk driver who actually tried to argue that he was "not guilty by reason of temporary insanity" because, after all, he was drunk at the time.
If people are now convinced Spacey did it, that's mainly a function of his inability to deny it. If he'd said, "I absolutely did not and would never do such a thing," we'd now be having a different discussion. There would still be people who thought he was guilty but most would not be as certain, and the rest would be giving him the benefit of some skepticism.
One other point. When I first wrote about this, I said…
I also kind of wonder if a smart lawyer vetted that admission. When you confess you might have tried to rape a minor but you can't remember for sure, aren't you just inviting others to accuse you of doing other things you might not remember? Aren't you kind of disqualifying yourself as a witness to your own life?
Let me take that back. Mr. Spacey is a very wealthy man who is at the center of several enterprises that involve large sums of cash. What is happening to his reputation will impact the future marketability of House of Cards, any films he's made that have yet to be released and the films he's made which may have their future value affected. There is a whole industry out there of lawyers and consultants who specialize in what we might call Career Crisis Management. You go to them when there's a scandal and you need to minimize what it does to you in terms of legal jeopardy, and to you and those around you in terms of image.
It also scrambles to head off future accusations and/or revelations. One thing we've learned from the Cosby and Weinstein matters is that one accuser can lead to many others. One person claiming victimhood comes forward and that emboldens others who figure there's a certain safety in numbers and a greater likelihood of their charges being taken seriously.
Mr. Spacey's statement didn't make a lot of sense to me but then I realized: He and his advisors are not just concerned with the one accusation but with others…and indeed, there have been others. Presumably, Spacey was not too drunk for thirty years to know of others who might emerge. The strategy of a guy in his position might not seem logical to us but we don't know what he and his people are worried about…and it may not be other charges of child molestation. It might not even be other illegal activities. It might just be things that he simply doesn't want to see come out.
You know, I'd love to see Kevin Spacey somehow clear himself of all charges. He's someone I've always respected as an actor and an activist. I'd like to be able to respect him as a human being, too. More significantly, I love when an innocent person is cleared of suspicion. I don't think they all are. As I've written here before, I think our prisons are full of innocent people, in part because once our legal system convicts someone, it does all it can to discourage parties from proving that conviction was wrong.
It would be great if a court or even an investigative reporter who really dug into the matter could say, as the article said, that "Kevin Spacey is Innocent." But I don't even see Spacey saying that. I just see a lot of Damage Control. It is, to quote the noted philosopher Donald J. Trump, sad.