Kevin Spacey Says Hollywood Feels More Welcoming After Years of Exile

Kevin Spacey. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Caption: Kevin Spacey attends the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center Monte Cristo Award event at South Street Seaport in New York City on April 26, 2009. Credit: Sarah Ackerman, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 3.0.

Kevin Spacey sat down with Bill Maher on the Club Random podcast on June 29, 2026, and said he believes the entertainment industry is beginning to open back up to him. Spacey, 66, was removed from House of Cards and replaced in a film mid-production in 2017 after accusations of sexual misconduct from dozens of people first became public. His career in major Hollywood productions has been largely dormant since.

Speaking to Maher, Spacey said he feels much more welcomed than he did, and that things were moving in the direction he had hoped. He grounded that assessment in his legal record, noting that he had been found not guilty in every case that went before a jury. Variety reported the comments. Spacey’s remarks quickly circulated across entertainment media and generated substantial reaction online.

What the Legal Record Shows

Spacey’s legal history in the years since 2017 includes several distinct proceedings. In 2022, a federal jury in New York found him not liable in a civil lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp, who alleged Spacey made an unwanted sexual advance toward him in 1986 when Rapp was 14. Rapp had sought $40 million in damages. In July 2023, a UK criminal court acquitted Spacey of nine sexual assault charges. In March 2026, he reached out-of-court settlements with three men who had brought separate civil sexual assault claims against him in London, ending those proceedings before trial.

Not-guilty verdicts and civil settlements carry specific legal meanings that differ from broader claims of vindication. More than 50 individuals made allegations against Spacey spanning several decades. Many of those allegations were never adjudicated in any court proceeding.

The Spacey Framing and Maher’s Challenge

During the podcast, Maher pushed back on Spacey’s characterization of the accusations. He told Spacey there was too much smoke to be no fire - a reference to the volume of allegations. Spacey responded that he had never said there was no fire. He described it, in a phrase that drew immediate online commentary, as a small kitchen fire that could have been put out with an extinguisher.

Maher told Spacey he thought some punishment would have been appropriate. Spacey argued he had already faced extensive consequences - he said he had lost everything, including his home - and compared his situation to a professional athlete being suspended for a limited number of games. He told Maher that if he had been hitting home runs, he would have been put back on the field.

Where He Has Been Working

Since his career in major studio productions collapsed, Spacey has not disappeared from work entirely. He has appeared in European films and independent productions - a Italian comedy series called Minimarket, a British indie thriller called The Awakening, and various other smaller projects. He has signed on to lead a World War II drama called Melodies in the Forest.

This profile of work represents a significant step down from the career he had before 2017. He won two Academy Awards - for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty - and was regarded as one of the most technically accomplished actors of his generation. House of Cards, which he led as its central character for five seasons, was a major streaming prestige drama. None of the work he has done since has operated at that level.

The Question Without a Clean Answer

Spacey told Maher that he believed nine years had been enough - that people were starting to hear the facts, understand the legal outcomes, and reconsider. He also reflected on how he had been fiercely closeted throughout his career and how that secrecy had shaped his judgment when he first responded to Rapp’s allegations in 2017 by coming out publicly, a response that was widely criticized as using his sexuality to deflect from the accusation.

Whether Hollywood will actually return to giving him major roles is not yet determined by any announcement or signed deal. What Spacey described on the podcast was a feeling, a sense of temperature change, not a confirmed offer or green-lit project. The industry has not formally addressed his comments. Audiences will determine what his public image can sustain.

References: Kevin Spacey Speaks Out on Sexual Assault Trials and Says His Career Is Rebounding | Kevin Spacey Feels Much More Welcomed as He Looks to Rebuild Hollywood Career