Kevin Spacey Accused of Groping Richard Dreyfuss’ Son Harry Dreyfuss
A new Buzzfeed feature published Saturday claims that Kevin Spacey once groped actor Richard Dreyfuss’ then-teenage son, Harry Dreyfuss, when he was 18 nearly ten years ago.
In the essay, the younger Dreyfuss recounts how the House of Cards actor once came on to him and touched him inappropriately while he and his famous father were at Spacey’s home in London, rehearsing lines from a script. (Spacey directed Richard in the play Complicit at the Old Vic in 2008.)
According to Harry, the trio first chatted in the kitchen before moving to the living room, where Harry and Spacey shared a couch (the elder Dreyfuss sat in a big chair on the side of the room, Harry recounted).
“After a few minutes, he put his hand on my thigh. Finally (finally, finally) I became suspicious,” Harry wrote, referring to a few previous interactions that should have raised red flags. “It took that long because it just never occurred to me that Kevin would be interested in me in the first place. He was an adult man, a hero of mine, my dad’s boss, none of which were categories on my radar for sexual interactions. Besides, I thought, Surely he can’t be coming on to me like this right in front of my dad.”
Harry recalled that his father didn’t notice the inappropriate touching “because he was deeply focused on his script.” Richard Dreyfuss later confirmed to Buzzfeed that he had not seen the incident and only heard about it years later from his son.
In his retelling of the story to Buzzfeed, Harry noted that he moved to a different spot on the couch several times to deter Spacey from any further advances, but the two-time Oscar winner kept following him. Finally, at one point in the night, the actor’s hand went from uncomfortable to inappropriate to, Harry claims, assault.
“Over the course of about 20 seconds, centimeter by centimeter, Kevin crawled his hand from my thigh over toward my crotch,” Harry wrote. “My mind went blank. Suddenly, he had completed his journey and now he had all of me in his hand. I stopped reading the script and my eyes went wide. I lifted up my head and faced him. Looking into his eyes, I gave the most meager shake of my head that I could manage. I was trying to warn him without alerting my dad, who still had his eyes glued to the page. I thought I was protecting everyone. I was protecting my dad’s career. I was protecting Kevin, who my dad surely would have tried to punch. I was protecting myself, because I thought one day I’d want to work with this man. Kevin had no reaction and kept his hand there. My eyes went back to the script and I kept reading.”
According to the younger Dreyfuss, it took him years to tell his father about what happened, and even then, he downplayed the incident, often telling the story as a kind of joke. “He was furious,” Harry wrote, “and I spent the rest of the evening ensuring him that it wasn’t a big deal, and that I would be mortified if he did anything about it.”
Harry said that he was inspired to come forward with his story following the accusations against Harvey Weinstein, the #MeToo campaign and all the younger men breaking their silence to accuse Spacey of sexual assault.
Richard Dreyfuss tweeted his support for his son Saturday. “I love my son @harrydreyfuss more than I could explain with all the words in the world,” he wrote. “And I am so incredibly proud of him right now.”
I love my son @harrydreyfuss more than I could explain with all the words in the world. And I am so incredibly proud of him right now. https://t.co/iLOxTxPe4n
— Richard Dreyfuss (@RichardDreyfuss) November 5, 2017
An attorney for Spacey, Bryan Freedman, told Buzzfeed of Harry’s story, “Let me be clear, Mr. Spacey absolutely denies the allegations.”
The American Beauty actor first came under fire a little over a week ago after Rent actor Anthony Rapp accused him of sexual assault in a lengthy piece for Buzzfeed. Since then, Spacey has apologized, come out, been subject to “treatment” and faced numerous more allegations from men spanning several decades.