It is rare when Hollywood turns on one of its own, especially when it turns on a legitimate star who is widely-acknowledged for having a gift in his field (in this case, acting). Yet Kevin Spacey was unhappily surprised to discover that even his best-actor Oscar and his celebrity status were of little avail to him when a fellow actor outed Spacey – not for being gay – but for being a child sexual predator. In the face of that plausible (and not denied) charge, made recently by an actor who is not only openly gay but who plays an openly gay character in the popular new Star Trek TV series, and who first gained fame for his Broadway and Hollywood portrayals of Mark Cohen in Rent, not even playing the “OK, I’ll admit it, I’m Gay” trump card helped Spacey.

Image by Dianny of Patriot Retort

In large measure, this rejection of the “hey I’m gay, too” defense occurred because the world of social media took a stand. Bloggers and tweeters and others with a platform wouldn’t put up with that blatant attempt to slough off blame by turning the predator into a victim, too. Apparently, there are some gays in Hollywood who are more gay than others, and when a long-time openly gay actor makes a damning charge against someone who’s never before gone gay in public, the openly gay actor wins. But it wasn’t just bloggers. GLAAD, and a number of high-profile gay actors, then went public with statements that Spacey coming out should not “deflect” from Rapp’s allegations

Here are some of the less-sordid details. Earlier this week, openly-gay actor Anthony Rapp, who plays the openly-gay Science Officer Lieutenant Paul Stamets on the new (and just renewed for Season Two) CBS Streaming series, Star Trek Discovery, charged Spacey – who until this week was not “openly gay” (though some commentators claim Spacey’s gay lifestyle choice was yet another dirty little Hollywood “open secret”) – had made rather aggressive and unwanted sexual advances against Rapp. This occurred at a “drunken” party hosted by Spacey when he (then 26) and Rapp (then 14) were starring in different Broadway plays. I won’t go into the details of Spacey’s failed rape attempt, but they’re gut-churning.

Spacey didn’t deny the charges – instead, he claims to not remember. But after admitting that it might have happened, he proceeded to apologize “most seriously,” then, apparently trying to change the subject, he finally chose to admit that he was also gay, and that from this moment forward he’d live an “Openly Gay Lifestyle.” At other times, in other circumstances, this admission might have saved Spacey’s bacon, as Hollywood and the media tend to quickly lionize those with the “courage” (though how much courage does it take to launch a PR ploy designed to save your career and reputation?) to go public with their gay-ness. Surely, this approach has, in the past, masked the perpetrator in a shield of media-certified victimhood, and Spacey and his PR team had every reason to expect it would happen again. However, there are a lot of people in the social media world – not all of them gay by any means – who are no longer willing to allow a sudden gay admission to shroud heinous behavior in a mask of convenient self-righteous victimhood. Quickly, the strength of the social media blowback was picked up by the media, who realized that they were starting to side with the wrong gay guy – the predator instead of the victim.

Perhaps the media and Hollywood were remembering – was it just last month? – that Harvey Weinstein tried this same ploy, albeit choosing a different target. After announcing that he’d go into rehab (for at least a week), he said he would put all of his resources into savaging one of Hollywood and the liberal media’s favorite whipping boys – the NRA. Amazingly, that ploy didn’t work for Weinstein, and now a similar ploy hasn’t worked for Spacey. Hollywood and their media lackeys decided that a 14-year-old almost-rape victim who had lived his life and career as an openly gay man and actor was the more worthy victim to side with. Amazingly, in this one case, Hollywood and the liberal media got that right.

Now the consequences are falling, chip-like, wherever they may. Netflix canceled Spacey’s award-winning Netflix-broadcast series, House of Cards, although don’t rush to salute them for taking the moral high ground. The series has been canceled … but not until after next season’s run of programs, which are still being shot. And though the show has been canceled (eventually) a decision that had been under consideration before the scandal broke, House of Cards hasn’t been removed from the Netflix playlist of programming. So the “disgraced” Spacey will receive another year’s worth of royalties, and Netflix will continue to serve undiscriminating viewers. In fact, it’s not too much to predict that this program, which focuses on a couple whose total lack of moral fiber allows them to rise in politics from the House to the White House. Given that its lead star has now been shown to have no more moral fiber than the murderous character he plays, this might even boost ratings.

On a purely personal note, I’m saddened to learn of Spacey’s fall from grace; not because I care one whit for his lifestyle choices, but because I refuse to watch anything from Hollywood that rewards pedophiles, and I just recently bought the movie Nine Lives. That’s a cute little movie that’s ideal for a Katmandu (cat lover) like me. It’s a heartwarming light family comedy with a strong moral message that I like to watch at times when I want to escape from the slime of society, if only for 90 minutes. Scratch that film. I adopted this draconian policy when Woody Allen’s incestuous semi-pedophilia was revealed; I used to be a huge fan, until what he was doing with and to his adopted daughter become public knowledge. As this decision applies to the current kerfuffle, I don’t give a rodent’s rear end about whether Spacey’s gay, but attempting to seduce a 14-year old at a cast party with drinking and (possibly) drugs present is way over any possible line. However, as much as I’ll miss Nine Lives (I can always substitute Zootopia, another cute uplifting-message movie), I didn’t have to scratch House of Cards from my list. Not quite two seasons was all I could take before the Spacey character’s absolute lack of moral standards lost their appeal, which occurred at roughly the same time that I gave up on Breaking Bad and Dexter, for pretty much the same reasons.

Am I calling for a boycott of Spacey’s work? Not a chance. Your choices are your own, not mine. Follow my example or ignore it, the choice is yours. But if you choose to keep supporting Hollywood actors and producers and directors whose personal lives make skinny-dipping in a cesspool look attractive by comparison, at least you can be confident that you’ve got plenty of programming to look forward to. And if you do, please, don’t then get all high-horse-holy on the rest of us when you criticize the moral failures increasingly endemic in America.