A recent allegation of sexual misconduct against Kevin Spacey may cause the acclaimed actor to join the ever expanding list of Hollywood-ites who allegedly can’t keep their hands to themselves.

Granted, Spacey seems to be facing only one major allegation (as of right now), but his reaction to the allegation is very interesting. Let’s look at the details.

Spacey’s accuser is theater and film actor, Anthony Rapp.

Rapp is a 46 year old actor who is perhaps best known for his role in the very popular musical Rent, a story loosely inspired by the beloved opera, La Boheme. Rapp played his character in both the original Broadway musical version of Rent as well as the film adaptation.

We know that Kevin Spacey is also at home on a stage.

Spacey has done quite a bit of theater work, including work for Broadway. He just hosted the Tonys this year. The theater scene is apparently where Rapp and Spacey met.

Rapp alleges, via a Buzzfeed story, that Kevin Spacey befriended him while they were both working on separate Broadway productions in the 80s. Spacey invited Rapp to a party. After the party was over, Spacey allegedly found Rapp in a bedroom, picked him up in his arms, put him on a bed, and crawled on top of him. Rapp says that Spacey was trying to “get with” him.

The extra bad part? At the time, Rapp would have been fourteen years old.

Now, it’s terrible when a person tries to seduce an non-consenting adult by crawling on top of said adult in a bed.

But doing that to a young teen? Most of the time, that would be career-ending (unless you’re Roman Polanski).

According to the Buzzfeed article, the encounter had a lasting, negative effect on Rapp:

“For years, Rapp, now 46, told no one about his experience, and he has never spoken with Spacey since. But as Spacey’s star began to rise through the 1990s and 2000s — including a Tony Award, two Oscars, a decadelong run as the creative director of the Old Vic theater in London, and six seasons and counting on the hit Netflix series House of Cards — Rapp’s frustration, anger, and incredulity with the sexual boundary he said Spacey crossed with him grew as well. Seeing Spacey now, “My stomach churns,” Rapp said. “I still to this day can’t wrap my head around so many aspects of it. It’s just deeply confusing to me.””

After Rapp’s allegation was out, Spacey responded to it with this sympathetic, apologetic, but very odd message:

pic.twitter.com/X6ybi5atr5

— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017

In terms of Spacey’s first paragraph: while Spacey doesn’t confirm or deny Rapp’s allegations, he does imply that Rapp’s story may be true. Spacey apologizes for such behavior in case it happened, which means he believes that kind of behavior on his part was possible. It is nice that Spacey is actually willing to hypothetically own up to his previous bad behavior. That’s sort of impressive by Hollywood standards. Of course, it’s disappointing that he goes right to blaming alcohol while discussing his behavior. That makes his apology feel considerably less sincere.

But in terms of Spacey’s second paragraph: what the heck? Spacey’s response to a very serious sexual harassment/pedophilia allegation is to mention the potential existence of “other stories” about him that might be out there… and then come out as gay?

People are bewildered, gobsmacked, and even offended as to why Spacey thought Rapp’s allegation served as a good occasion to come out, especially after Spacey spent decades meticulously guarding his private life.

Can we be clear here? This is not a coming out story. This is a story about a grown man who tried to sexually assault a child and was OUTED!

— Del Shores (@DelShores) October 30, 2017

I'm not interested in Kevin Spacey being gay. I'm curious as to why we're conflating sexuality w/ the molestation of a minor. Stay on topic

— Ashlee Marie Preston (@AshleeMPreston) October 30, 2017

https://twitter.com/EscapologistFi/status/924904076856393728

Kevin Spacey's statement: pic.twitter.com/ZrItyN2w1p

— . (@_michaelsaid) October 30, 2017

Twitter erupted in anger after Kevin Spacey apologized to Anthony Rapp and came out as gay in a statement https://t.co/deMY5G9Adz pic.twitter.com/Al3DQBXRPl

— Variety (@Variety) October 30, 2017

Kevin Spacey's apology has not been accepted by social media users https://t.co/a1GnfaSFij

— billboard (@billboard) October 30, 2017

https://twitter.com/shanruss07/status/924919122047139840

Perhaps Spacey is being genuine and we just don’t understand his reasoning yet. Or perhaps he believes that, by aligning himself with the gay community (and therefore identifying himself as a member of a marginalized community), he will be better shielded from this scandal than if he were to maintain his old status quo of personal privacy. It’s just a thought. But who knows? Regardless, it is clear that Spacey’s message has been met with incredulity, to say the least.