Prominent figures in the entertainment industry have reacted to Kevin Spacey's apology after fellow actor Anthony Rapp claimed that the House of Cards star made a "sexual advance on him".

Much of the criticism has been aimed at how Spacey chose to come out as gay in his apology to the Star Trek actor, with many furious that he appeared to conflate homosexuality with his inappropriate behaviour.

Rapp, who said he was sharing his story after the Harvey Weinstein scandal emerged, alleges that Spacey picked him up and climbed on top of him at a party at his apartment when Rapp was 14-years-old. Spacey would have been 26 at the time.

Spacey responded a few hours after the original story broke and issued an apology via Twitter.

"I honestly do not remember the encounter, it would have been over 30 years ago," he said. "But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour, and I am sorry for all the feelings he describes having carried with him all these years."

He then confirmed what has perhaps been one of Hollywood's worst-kept secrets: "This story has encouraged me to address other things in my life... I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I now choose to live life as a gay man."

Writers, actors and other high profile figures in Hollywood have been critical of the statement and how Spacey appeared to try and deflect the incident by coming out as gay for the first time.

Comedian Cameron Esposito tweeted: "Just wanna be really f**king clear that being gay has nothing to do w/ going after underage folks."

Actress Rose McGowan, who claims she was raped by Harvey Weinstein, wrote: "Bye bye, Spacey goodbye, it's your turn to cry, that's why we've gotta say goodbye." (Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.)

Comedian and actor Billy Eichner simply wrote: "That Kevin Spacey statement. Nope. Absolutely not. Nope" while Dan Savage added: "There's no amount of drunk or closeted that excuses or explains away assaulting a 14-year-old child."

Writing for the Daily Beast, Ira Madison criticised Spacey for the "calculated move" by the actor and his PR team "that has handled rumours surrounding his sexuality for years".

"There's never a truly wrong time to come out and I'd never begrudge anyone for accepting their sexuality," he continued.

"But the seediness of using your coming out to deflect form a sexual assault allegation is something else entirely... beyond altering the narrative, Spacey's statement grossly conflates paedophilia and homosexuality."

Comedian and writer Guy Branum called it a "PR smokescreen", tweeting sarcastically: "The classiest way to come out of the closet is as a PR smokescreen to distract people from the fact that you tried to molest a child."