Anthony Rapp Calls Star Trek a “Bonus Round” in His Career, Opens Up About the Impact of His Allegations of Assault by Kevin Spacey

Anthony Rapp, Star Trek: Discovery’s Lt. Paul Stamets, performed with his longtime friend and Rent co-star Adam Pascal at Pittsburgh’s O’Reilly Theatre last night. The two performed acoustic sets as part of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s season finale.

Before the performance, however, Rapp spoke to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about Rent, Star Trek, and his part in the #MeToo movement.

In 2017, Rapp revealed that actor Kevin Spacey had made unwanted sexual advances toward him when he was a minor. His revelation prompted others to come forward, and led to, among other things, Spacey’s being dropped from the lead role in the hit Netflix show House of Cards. When asked about that time, Rapp said: “The reason I did it was to make a difference and stop a predator...It had that impact. No one knew it would happen that way. But now there’s a sense that people who behaved in this way and are being called out on it are not welcome to have the kind of power they had anymore, and they are not exempt from consequences.” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes that Rapp said he was grateful that his revelation was meaningful.

In the years since, however, Rapp has had tremendous success as astromycologist Lt. Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery. He referred to Star Trek as a “bonus round” in his career and noted that some of his fans cross genres. He said: “There is definitely like a Venn diagram of ‘Rent’ fans and ‘Star Trek’ fans. It’s a nice crossover.”