By Andrew Dalton, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Kevin Spacey and his production companies must pay the studio behind "House of Cards" more than $30 million because of losses brought on by his firing for sexual misconduct, according to an arbitration decision made final Monday.
A document filed in Los Angeles Superior Court requesting a judge's approval of the ruling says that the arbitrators found that Spacey violated his contract's demands for professional behavior by "engaging certain conduct in connection with several crew members in each of the five seasons that he starred in and executive produced House of Cards."
MRC, the studio behind "House of Cards," had to fire Spacey, halt production of the show's sixth season, rewrite it to remove Spacey's central character, and shorten it from 13 to eight episodes to meet deadlines, resulting in tens of millions in losses, the document said.
"The safety of our employees, sets and work environments is of paramount importance to MRC and why we set out to push for accountability," MRC said in a statement Monday.
A representative for Spacey did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. His attorneys argued that the actor's actions were not a substantial factor in the show's losses.
The ruling came after a legal fight of more than three years and an eight-day evidentiary hearing that was kept secret from the public, along with the rest of the dispute.
Spacey appealed the decision to a panel of three more private arbitrators, who found for the plaintiffs, making the decision final, and public, on Monday.
"MRC stood its ground, pursued this case doggedly, and obtained the right result in the end," plaintiff's attorney Michael Kump said in a statement.
The 62-year-old Oscar winner's career came to an abrupt halt late in 2017 as the #MeToo movement gained momentum.
Actor Anthony Rapp, who has appeared in "Rent" on Broadway and film as well as in "Star Trek: Discovery" on television, said Spacey made a sexual advance on him when he was 14 at a party in the 1980s.
At the time, Spacey issued a statement saying he didn't remember the encounter but apologized.
Several other accusers followed. Some, including Rapp, have filed lawsuits.
Independent investigations found widespread sexual harassment of those who worked under him.
Spacey was fired or removed from several projects, most notably "House of Cards," the Netflix political thriller where for five seasons he played lead character Frank Underwood, a power-hungry congressman who becomes president.
The one criminal case brought against him, an indecent assault and battery charge stemming from the alleged groping of an 18-year-old man at a Nantucket resort, was dismissed by Massachusetts prosecutors in 2019.
James Earl Jones, Lauded Actor and Voice of Darth Vader, Dies At 93
James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen — eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, "The Lion King" and Darth Vader — has died. He was 93.
His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Monday morning at home in New York's Hudson Valley region. The cause was not immediately clear.
The pioneering Jones, who was one of the first African American actors in a continuing role on a daytime drama and worked deep into his 80s, won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor.
He cut an elegant figure late in life, with a wry sense of humor and a ferocious work habit. In 2015, he arrived at rehearsals for a Broadway run of "The Gin Game" having already memorized the play and with notebooks filled with comments from the creative team. He said he was always in service of the work.
"The need to storytell has always been with us," he told The Associated Press then. "I think it first happened around campfires when the man came home and told his family he got the bear, the bear didn't get him."
Jones created such memorable film roles as the reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in "Field of Dreams," the boxer Jack Johnson in the stage and screen hit "The Great White Hope," the writer Alex Haley in "Roots: The Next Generation" and a South African minister in "Cry, the Beloved Country."
He was also a sought-after voice actor, expressing the villainy of Darth Vader ("No, I am your father," commonly misremembered as "Luke, I am your father"), as... Read More