Kevin Spacey Speaks Out Against #MeToo Blacklisting During Cannes Lifetime Achievement Speech

Kevin Spacey, the two-time Oscar-winning American Beauty and House of Cards star, compared himself to famed blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo when receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Spacey was receiving the Award for Excellence in Film and Television at The Better World Fund Gala when he compared himself to Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted as a communist in 1950s Hollywood:

I’ve been thinking of someone else you saw earlier on the screen tonight, Kirk Douglas, great American film star. It was a long, long time ago, but we have to think about the pushback that he received after he made the brave decision to stand up for fellow colleague, two-time Oscar-winning screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo, who had been blacklisted from 1947-1960. He was blacklisted. Blacklisted, we know what that mean?

He couldn’t find work in Hollywood for 13 years. But even after he was warned if he tried to hire Trumbo as the credited screenwriter for Spartacus in 1960, he’d be called a Commie lover, and his career and professional status would be canceled, Kirk Douglas took the risk, and would later say, and I won’t do my Kirk Douglas impression, but he said this, ‘It’s easier for us actors to play the heroes on screen. We get to fight the bad guys and stand up for justice. But in real life, the choices are not always so clear. There are times when one has to stand up for principal.’

Spacey called the blacklist a “terrible time in our history” and feared that history repeated itself with #MeToo.

Spacey’s career took a nosedive into oblivion following a series of explosive allegations in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Nearly eight years later, the Academy Award-winning actor came out on top by winning a series of court battles.

During his rehabilitation campaign, Spacey has garnered support from several Hollywood celebrities like Sharon Stone, Liam Neeson, and Stephen Fry, who all went on the record asking he be allowed back into the public spotlight.

“I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work,” Stone told the Telegraph. “He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will.”