Kevin Spacey Compares Coronavirus Layoffs to His Post #MeToo Exile: ‘I Can Relate’

Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey recently made a comparison between the mass unemployment brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and his experience with becoming a public pariah.

The Daily Mail picked up on an interview Spacey gave the Bits & Pretzels podcast in which he reflected on how quickly his life changed after he was accused of sexual assault back in 2017. During this conversation, Spacey was asked for his thoughts on the coronavirus situation, and he said he could relate to people who’ve lost their jobs amid the global economic devastation.

“I don’t often like to tell people that I can relate to their situation because I think it undermines the experience that they may be having, which is their own unique and very personal experience…But in this instance I feel as though I can relate to what it feels like to have your world suddenly stop. And so while we may have found ourselves in similar situations, albeit for very different reasons and circumstances, I still believe that some of the emotional struggles are very much the same. And so I do have empathy for what it feels like to suddenly be told that you can’t go back to work or that you might lose your job and that it’s a situation that you have absolutely no control over.”

Spacey was caught up in the #MeToo movement when fellow actor Anthony Rapp accused him of making sexual advances on Rapp while he was a teenager. Rapp’s story was followed by more sexual assault claims against Spacey, which resulted in the actor losing his starring role in House of Cards and several other projects. He was charged with sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man in Massachusetts, but the case was dropped in 2019.

“I don’t think it will come as a surprise for anyone to say that my world completely changed,” Spacey said as he looked back on 2017. “My job, many of my relationships, my standing in my own industry were all gone in just a matter of hours.”

Towards the end of the podcast, Spacey went on to say “I was so busy defining myself by what I did or what I was trying to do, that when it all stopped, I had no idea what to do next. I don’t want to sugarcoat this devastating time that we’re in, I am hoping that I can encourage you to see an opportunity in all of this and turn this into a positive.”

Watch above.