![Kevin Spacey is in big trouble [image courtesy of Pinguino k wikimedia commons]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/10/30/660x290/b_502x220x82/kevin-spacey-is-in-big-trouble-image-courtesy-of-pinguino-k-wikimedia-commons_1663597.jpg "Kevin Spacey is in big trouble [image courtesy of Pinguino k wikimedia commons]")
As this is being written, the media is convulsed with two scandals. One involves a political operative and businessman named Paul Manafort who is accused of a variety of white collar crimes that include money laundering and conspiracy. The other concerns a famous Hollywood actor named Kevin Spacey who was charged with attempting to sexually assault a 14-year-old boy back in the 1980s. Which scandal is the most outrageous?
What Manafort allegedly did
Paul Manafort, along with a former business partner Richard W. Gates III, has just been indicted on 12 counts including money laundering, tax fraud, and conspiracy.
The alleged crimes are somewhat dull when lumped together out of context. However, two unrelated facts make the indictments interesting.
First, Manafort was Donald Trump's campaign manager for a while. Second, the indictments took place as a result of a federal investigation into the conspiracy theory that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election. None of the indictments have any direct relation to the 2016 presidential campaign, though some speculate that Manafort is about to be squeezed for whatever knowledge he might have about those matters.
What Kevin Spacey is accused of
Kevin Spacey, an actor, best known for his role as the slimy Frank Underwood in the Netflix series “house of cards,” was accused by Anthony Rapp, currently appearing in “Star Trek: Discovery,” of attempting to sexually assault him in the 1980s when he was 14 years old.
Spacey did not deny the incident took place but merely said that he had no recollection of the matter. He offered a mild apology and then added the tidbit that while Spacey has had flings with both men and women, he now chooses to live as a gay man.
The juxtaposition of the attempted sexual assault of a child and coming out as gay has got a lot of people outraged.
Spacey has not only become the latest Hollywood celebrity to be caught up in Harveygate but has compounded the problem out of his own mouth, alienating the LGBT community. That he has damaged his career and likely ended the run of “House of Cards” earlier than otherwise would be the case goes almost without saying.
The bottom line
Manafort’s legal troubles likely will not bring a lot of aid and comfort to the NeverTrump crowd since everything he is accused of happened before the 2016 campaign. Trump, at most, can be dinged for hiring him in the first place even though he had no way of knowing what his alleged nefarious activities were.
Spacey, on the other hand, confirms the growing suspicion among many that Hollywood is filled with slimeballs and criminals who act worse than medieval barons having at the peasants with wild abandon. That Spacey is also a liberal who has been prone to lecture lesser mortals is but the icing on the cake.
