Anthony Rapp testified in federal court about an “incredibly frightening” encounter, in which Kevin Spacey allegedly climbed on top of him when he was a teen. 

Rapp, who is suing Spacey for $40 million in a civil trial over alleged sexual misconduct, described to the court on Friday (7 October) how he first became acquainted with Spacey as a teenager on the New York City theatre scene.

He testified that Spacey invited him to a party at the actor’s loft in 1986 when Rapp was 14 and the disgraced actor was 26.

Rapp, now 50, told jurors he decided to go because he was “honoured” to “join a colleague at a gathering” and was eager to show some independence from his mum. 

The Star Trek: Discovery actor described feeling uncomfortable because he didn’t know the other guests, so he decided to go into a bedroom to watch TV. Rapp told jurors that Spacey later appeared in the doorway, seemingly intoxicated, and approached him. 

Anthony Rapp claimed the actor lifted him “like a groom carrying a bride over the threshold”, put him on a bed and rested his body on top of him, pressing his penis against Rapp’s hip. 

“It felt very wrong,” Rapp said. “I didn’t want him to do it, and I had no reason that made any sense of why he would do it. I felt like a deer in headlights.”

Rapp testified that he was able to “wiggle” his way out from under Spacey and hide in a bathroom. Rapp recalled later running to the front door of the loft when Spacey stopped the teen and asked him: “Are you sure you want to leave?”

After the alleged encounter, Rapp said he contemplated how he would “recover from this incredibly upsetting and frightening experience” during his long walk home. 

“I was this 14-year-old child, and I had no desire to have any kind of this experience in my life,” he said. “It was incredibly frightening and very alarming and totally antithetical to anything else that I had ever experienced.”

Kevin Spacey, now 63, has denied Rapp’s claims. His lawyer Jennifer Kelley claimed Rapp invented the incident as she said it resembled a scene in Precious Sons, a play that Rapp starred in at the time. 

In her opening statement, Kelley alleged Rapp made up the accusations “for sympathy” and to “raise his own profile”.

Anthony Rapp first publicly shared his allegations against Spacey in a BuzzFeed News article published in October 2017, during the early days of the #MeToo movement. 

Kevin Spacey initially apologised on social media to Rapp for what he said “would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour” but said he “honestly” didn’t “remember the encounter”. He has since denied the allegations. 

Rapp is one of several individuals who have come forward with accusations of sexual misconduct against Spacey in recent years. 

Spacey has been dropped from multiple projects amid the allegations, and he was charged in May with four counts of sexual assault against several men in the UK. 

Rapp is expected to continue his testimony and then face cross-examination from Kevin Spacey’s lawyers when the civil trial resumes on Tuesday (11 October).