Entertainment
Kevin Spacey accused of racism
Los Angeles, Jan 16 (IANS) Actor Kevin Spacey has been accused of racism and refusing to acknowledge black employees on the first season of “House of Cards”.
Earl Blue, 51, the head of VIP Protective Services, was hired by Knight Takes King Productions to manage on-set security during season one filming of the Netflix series in 2012.
He claims Spacey, who played the lead character Frank Underwood in “House of Cards”, refused to acknowledge the black team members and even made racial slurs, reports dailymail.co.uk.
Blue said a group of black security guards were watching the trailer for the show when he heard the actor tell his personal security manager: “I don’t want n***ers watching my trailer.”
When Blue raised concerns with set managers about Spacey, who was referred to as “The Powers That Be”, he was told: ‘That’s just the way he is; we have got to keep him happy’.”
Despite producers allegedly telling VIP Protective Services that they were pleased with their work, their $1.1 million contract was not renewed.
Breaking his four-year silence, father-of-three Blue, who plans to sue Spacey, claims the fallout resulted in his business, which employs 40 guards, losing millions of dollars in revenue.
One of his employees, supervisor Eric Lyles, 47, corroborated Blue’s allegations and claimed Spacey also refused to shake his hand or acknowledge him.
The pair fear dozens more will have suffered discrimination at the hands of the Hollywood star, who has separately been accused of sexual assault by more than a dozen men.
Blue said: “I was a tremendous fan of the man but now I am disgusted by him. 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 realisation that I did everything I was supposed to do, I was just dealing with a racist man.
“I sat on it for four years because I believe in confidentiality but when it comes to the point where people are being harmed, enough is enough. I realized he was getting worse and worse.”
A former employee of Knight Takes King, who asked not to be named, said he has “no particular recollection” of Spacey behaving in a racist manner towards security staff.
However, he said Spacey was a “real a*****e” who was “temperamental” on set and would “get frustrated” if things didn’t go his way.
He said the reason Blue’s contract was severed was “never explained”.
Producer Iain Paterson declined to discuss the allegations but said VIP Protective Services’s work was found to be “unsatisfactory”, reports dailymail.co.uk.
A source claimed: “VIP Protective Services had the set security contract for season one, when break-ins occurred in both the make-up trailer and Kevin Spacey’s trailer.
“The contract for set security was then awarded to Master Security for Season 2-6, yet VIP has continued to bid each year.”
Blue denied the claim and said: “There were no break-ins. I pride myself on our service and integrity so to hear these lies has struck a cord. No reason was given for terminating the contract.”
–IANS
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