Kevin Spacey says his dad was a 'neo-Nazi' and 'white supremacist' on witness stand in sex abuse trial: 'I have never talked about these things publicly'

• Kevin Spacey revealed on Monday that his father was a "neo-Nazi" and a "white supremacist."
• The disgraced actor was on the stand in his sexual-abuse trial in New York.

Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey revealed during testimony in his sexual abuse trial in New York on Monday that his father was a "neo-Nazi" and a "white supremacist."

"I have never talked about these things publicly. Ever," Spacey testified at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.

Spacey is on trial over sexual abuse claims involving actor Anthony Rapp, who says that Spacey sexually assaulted him at a party at Spacey's apartment in 1986 when Rapp was 14.

While on the witness stand in his own defense in the civil case on Monday, Spacey spoke about his childhood and how he and his siblings were forced to listen to their father's beliefs, which he said turned him into a private person from an early age.

"It was humiliating and terrifying to even consider bringing friends home to my house," he said. "I felt I had to keep to myself and keep private everything that happened in that house."

Spacey testified that his father would yell and curse at him over the possibility that he might be gay because of his interest in theater, admitting that it did lead him to have "a degree of shame."

But he also said he stayed in the closet for artistic reasons.

"I wanted people to remember the characters I played and not know too much about me. That was my reasoning, I was protecting the work," he said.

Referring to Rapp, his accuser, he said: "It's clear he was angry" that Spacey took so long to come out as gay.

"I wasn't living a lie," he said. "I was reluctant to talk about my personal life."

In 2020, Rapp sued Spacey, accusing him of assault, battery, and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. Rapp is asking a jury to award him $40 million in damages. Spacey has denied the allegations.