Kevin Spacey owes the studio behind House of Cards $31 Million USD in compensation for being fired during the production of the show's sixth season.
Kevin Spacey has been ordered to pay a sum of $31 Million USD, as a result of his firing from House of Cards during the filming of its sixth season, to the studio behind the show. The fine is due to Spacey's alleged behaviour being in breach of his contract.
Spacey was dropped from House of Cards in 2017 amidst bombshell allegations of Sexual Misconduct, some relating to under-age boys. He has, since the allegations were brought forward, been largely away from public eye, despite the several Christmas Eve videos he has released yearly since his dismissal from the show.
House of Cards was a massive Netflix drama that launched in 2013, following the character of Frank Underwood, played by Spacey, and his wife Claire Underwood. The latter character was played by actress Robin Wright (of Forrest Gump fame), who then became the show's primary protagonist in its sixth and final season, which released in late 2018.
As reported by Deadline, Spacey has now been ordered by a Judge of a Los Angeles Court to pay damages equalling a total of $31 Million USD to production company MRC. This particular production company was partnered with Netflix for the production of the hit Political Drama.
MRC sued Spacey for violating the terms of his conduct due to the sexual misconduct allegations that resulted in a halt in the show's production. The much-maligned actor was fired from the show, and MRC has since launched the suit.
This ruling has now been made public after an entire year, with Kevin Spacey having been denied a motion for appeal. It states:
The Arbitrator found that Spacey’s conduct constituted a material breach of his acting and executive producing agreements with MRC, and that his breaches excused MRC’s obligations to pay him any further compensation in connection with the Show...
The Arbitrator further found that Spacey’s egregious breaches of contract proximately caused and rendered him (and his affiliated entities) liable for the tens of millions of dollars in losses MRC suffered when it had no choice, upon the revelations of Spacey’s pattern of harassment, to halt the production of Season 6 of the Show, to rewrite the entire season to omit Spacey’s character, and to shorten season 6 from 13 episodes to 8 to meet delivery deadlines.
MRC made a statement claiming that Spacey's conduct meant that he broke their mission to ensure the safety of their employees. It is good to see that Spacey's alleged behaviour has resulted in not just the disappearance of the actor from public life, but multiple suits from production companies, as well as legal actions from various different parties that have been effected.
The allegations were originally made by actor Anthony Rapp, who accused Spacey of performing sexually inappropriate behaviours towards him when he was 14 years of age. Spacey's response did not deny what happened, but did express that he would be "examining" his own behaviour. These allegations were followed by a number of other claims.