Kevin Spacey accused of sexual harassment by 'House of Cards' crew

New sexual harassment allegations against Kevin Spacey have surfaced in a CNN report, with several House of Cardscrew members claiming to have witnessed or been victims of the actor's harassment on set of the Netflix series over the past few years.

Accusers who spoke to CNN under condition of anonymity included a former production assistant, a former camera assistant, a former female production assistant, and several other crew members -- eight in total -- who claimed that Spacey's routinely predatory behavior created, according to the production assistant, "a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors."

The allegations range from verbal harassment to nonconsensual physical assault. Many said they were too afraid of the repercussions to come forward at the time. But a Buzzfeed report detailing actor Anthony Rapp's allegations of Spacey's inappropriate advances when he was 14 encouraged others to come forward, according to CNN.

After Rapp's allegations went public on Sunday night, Netflix and the show's production company MRC sent a representative to theHouse of Cardsset to "address any concerns" with the cast and crew. The company also suspended production on Season 6 of the show indefinitely while investigating the claims.

The former production assistant claimed that an incident occurred when he and Spacey were driving alone to the House of Cardsset, at which point the actor put his hand down the assistant's pants without his consent. When they arrived on set, the production assistant said that Spacey proceeded to corner him in the trailer by blocking the exit and making inappropriate contact again.

The victim alleges that he told Spacey he was uncomfortable with his behavior, at which point the actor left set for the day.

The assistant also said that, "[Spacey] was a man in a very powerful position on the show and I was someone very low on the totem pole and on the food chain there." He was too afraid to file an official complaint or police report at the time, he told CNN, but confided in a coworker -- who corroborated the story. "I have no doubt that this type of predatory behavior was routine for him and that my experience was one of many and that Kevin had few if any qualms about exploiting his status and position."

The production assistant also claimed that the incident happened months after he had already complained to a supervisor about Spacey's other unwanted sexual advances.

Others described similar experiences. One member of the crew claims Spacey repeatedly harassed and assaulted him over his six years of working on the show. "He would come in and massage my shoulders from behind or put his hands around me or touch my stomach sometimes in weird ways that in normal everyday conversation would not be appropriate," he said.

Like many of the alleged victims, the crew member said he was afraid of the repercussions if he rejected Spacey. "That's the worst part about this whole thing. I would love to be able to speak out about this kind of stuff and not fear."

"It was very known that Kevin was inappropriate, and males I worked with complained to me about how they felt uncomfortable," said one female former production assistant, describing how Spacey would use play fights, hand shakes, or similar greetings before he would pull "their hand down to his crotch and touch their crotch. I have friends say he reached up their shorts on set."

In a statement, MRC emphasized their commitment to employee safety and responsiveness to any claims brought to their attention. Citing an incident back in 2012 when a crew member complained about Spacey's behavior, MRC says they took "immediate action," and were "confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved" after the actor participated in a training process.

In a statement, Netflix says that while they were "just" made aware of that incident that occurred five years ago, and assured of its resolution, they were "not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set. We continue to collaborate with MRC and other production partners to maintain a safe and respectful working environment. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the production, and have nothing further to share at this time."

For his part, Spacey responded to Rapp's allegations on Oct. 29, as part of a wider statement in which he also came out as gay -- prompting criticism from the LGBTQ community:

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The actor has yet to respond to the most recent allegations.