Kevin Spacey already saw his career take a major, probably unrecoverable hit after an onslaught of sexual misconduct allegations surfaced as #MeToo trended on social media. Now the disgraced former House of Cards star is facing even more accusations. This time they are about the actor’s alleged racism rather than sexual misconduct.
Earl Blue, the head of VIP Protective Services, says that during Season 1 of House of Cards, Kevin Spacey got upset because he didn’t want black security personnel watching the trailer for the Netflix hit. Spacey reportedly used the N-word when communicating what already was an offensive demand to make.
According to the Daily Mail , Blue says that he did report Spacey’s behavior to set managers who then responded, “that’s just the way he is,” before admitting that they had to keep the actor happy.
Even though the security company received good reviews from House of Cards producers, VIP Protective Services did not get their contract renewed after the first season of the show. The initial contract was worth $1.1 million. Earl Blue says that he plans to sue for loss of income based on Kevin Spacey’s alleged racist behavior.
After the contract with VIP Protective Services was ended, Blue says a production manager confided in him that Spacey said he “did not want n***ers on his set anymore.”
“In the film industry we are a close-knit group of people,” Blue said. “One of the people called me and told me what Spacey had said. We were blown away. He was blown away.”
Earl Blue also said that he suspected that Kevin Spacey might be racist after his first day on set. He said that he was introduced to Spacey as head of the security staff along with a police officer who would be working security on set as well. He claimed that after looking him up and down, Spacey shook the police officer’s hand and not his before walking away. The whole situation was described as “awkward.”
Kevin Spacey accused of using the N-word on ‘House Of Cards’ set https://t.co/AuxM0qz7Dw pic.twitter.com/GZpurUJ60x
— VIBE Magazine (@VibeMagazine) January 16, 2018
“I was a tremendous fan of the man but now I am disgusted by him,” Blue said of Spacey. “I lost faith that I am in the right job after the contract was terminated. I questioned myself for months. What could I have done differently? Then I came to the realization that I did everything I was supposed to do, I was just dealing with a racist man.”
Blue said that he opted not to go public with Kevin Spacey’s alleged racism for four years but decided to tell his story now in order to keep it from happening to someone else. He claims to have lost millions in revenue due to not having that contract renewed. If it was due to his security team being predominantly African American, then that is a problem.
An employee of Earl Blue corroborated the accusations that Kevin Spacey is a racist. Eric Lyles, who worked for Blue, also spoke out about the racist treatment he claims to have endured while working with the actor . He claims that Spacey would not shake hands with black security guards who worked on the House of Cards set during the first season.
When accused of sexual misconduct by actor Anthony Rapp, Kevin Spacey apologized, claimed that he did not remember the incident, and then came out as being homosexual. The whole statement has been highly criticized. Now that he’s been accused of racism too, attempts to contact Earl Blue, Eric Lyles, or reps for Kevin Spacey have gone unanswered.