GLAAD has called out Kevin Spacey for using his coming out as a way to distract from damning sexual assault allegations.
Spacey, 58, announced on Twitter Sunday that he was choosing "to live as a gay man" in the same statement he used to apologize to actor Anthony Rapp for an alleged sexual assault when Rapp was just 14.
Rapp, now 46, alleged to BuzzFeed News Sunday that when he was a teen, Spacey hauled Rapp over his shoulder, tossed him onto a bed and climbed on top of him in an attempt to "seduce" the "Stark Trek: Discovery" actor after a party at Spacey's apartment.
GLAAD's president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis did not mince words when it came to how she felt about Spacey's decision to combine his apology with the shocking revelation of his sexuality.
"Coming out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault," she wrote on Twitter. "This isn't a coming out story about Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp & those who speak out about unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that."
Spacey wrote in his statement that he was "horrified" to hear Rapp's story, but did not remember the encounter.
"If I did behave as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior, and I am sorry for the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years," he wrote.
He then followed up by writing that Rapp's story had encouraged him to "address other things" about his life _ namely his sexuality.
Many on social media, however, shared Ellis' disdain for Spacey's timing.
"Kevin Spacey has just invented something that has never existed before: a bad time to come out," comedian Billy Eichner wrote on Twitter.
