Last night, the world learned that actor Anthony Rapp is accusing Kevin Spacey of making a sexual advance on Rapp when Rapp was only 14 years old. The revelation is one of the more strange and disappointing allegations to emerge in the avalance of post-Weinstein stories of harassment and sexual assault by men in Hollywood and media. BuzzFeed reported:

In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Rapp is publicly alleging for the first time that in 1986, Spacey befriended Rapp while they both performed on Broadway shows, invited Rapp over to his apartment for a party, and, at the end of the night, picked Rapp up, placed him on his bed, and climbed on top of him, making a sexual advance. According to public records, Spacey was 26. Rapp was 14.

Spacey put out an eye-opening statement of apology, seeming to acknowledge that he had indeed probably done what Rapp accused him of:

pic.twitter.com/X6ybi5atr5

— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017

Quite remarkable — especially the line that reads: “But if I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” It’s not quite a confession, but the non-denial is striking. After all, most people would be able to deny without reservation trying to have sex with a 14-year-old boy. I don’t know what the statute of limitations is in New York on attempted sexual intercourse with a minor that young, but Spacey’s apparent acknowledgment of Rapp’s allegation could possibly even open him up to prosecution. At a minimum, it is a potentially career-ending admission.

And yet, much of Big Media portrayed the Real Story as being . . . Spacey’s admission that he is gay. No, seriously. One media organization after another ran headlines with variants of the theme: “Kevin Spacey Says He Is Gay.” Some of them changed their headlines after the fact, and others may still, so I will use screenshots to prove my point. Here’s ABC:

And here’s Reuters:

Not to be outdone, here is the New York Daily News:

Here’s Gabriel Malor with a similar screenshot from U.S News and World Report:

.@usnews joins @reuters, @ABC, @thedailybeast in demonstrating poor news judgment as well as being terrible human beings. pic.twitter.com/wRX2pOWPws

— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) October 30, 2017

Um, that’s not the story, guys. It’s not even news. I have assumed Spacey was gay or bisexual for years. I was surprised to read that he hadn’t openly acknowledged it.

But I was a lot more surprised to read that he had allegedly tried to have sex with a 14-year-old.

Come on, Big Media. When America sees you doing stuff like this, right in front of our eyes, we don’t get fooled any more. We just get increasingly disgusted with you, and your transparent efforts to soft-pedal a story on behalf of one of your own.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

My prediction last night:

I tend to think the indictment will be to a Trump-related person and not a Dem. But it probably will have zilch to do with Russia collusion and everything to do with financial shenanigans (probably Russia-related) and/or lying to the feds.

Always trust content from Patterico! The New York Times reports:

Paul Manafort and his former business associate were indicted on Monday on money laundering, tax and foreign lobbying charges, a significant escalation in a special counsel investigation that has cast a shadow over President Trump’s first year in office.

Mr. Manafort, the president’s former campaign chairman, and his longtime associate Rick Gates, surrendered to the FBI on Monday. The special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, said Mr. Manafort laundered more than $18 million to buy properties and services.

“Manafort used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States without paying taxes on that income,” the indictment reads.

Mr. Gates is accused of transferring more than $3 million from offshore accounts. The two are also charged with making false statements.

Well, it didn’t take a genius to see this coming.

My initial impression is that Trump can spin this as a nothingburger without straining too hard. From what I can tell from the early reports, nothing about this says “Russia collusion.” And Trump will say, not without justification, that his dealings with Manafort show he acted correctly when he learned Manafort was dirty. Deeeeeep in the New York Times article we get this reminder:

Mr. Trump fired Mr. Manafort just months later, after reports that he received more than $12 million in undisclosed payments from Viktor F. Yanukovych, the former Ukrainian president and a pro-Russia politician. Mr. Manafort spent years as a political consultant for Mr. Yanukovych.

At most, today’s story is a reminder that Donald Trump sometimes shows very poor judgment in the people he surrounds himself with.

Otherwise, this is kind of a yawner, to be honest.

UPDATE: Unlike the Manafort indictment, this could end up being a problem for Trump:

Whoa. Statement of facts here for the George Papadopoulos guilty plea, via @MikeScarcella https://t.co/Yr4jMbUzzt pic.twitter.com/1ObAGOTsgg

— Chris McDaniel (@csmcdaniel) October 30, 2017

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]