'House of Cards' crew member complained about Kevin Spacey 5 years ago: Studios
The actor "willingly participated in a training process," MRC said.
-- Media Rights Capital and Netflix, the studios behind "House of Cards," told ABC News in separate statements that a complaint was made about the show's star, Kevin Spacey, five years ago.
MRC claimed in a statement that after someone complained about "a specific remark and gesture made by Kevin Spacey," the actor "willingly participated in a training process" and all parties were satisfied with the prompt resolution of the issue.
No other complaints were received after that, MRC added in their statement.
A representative for Spacey did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
"When the allegations broke about Kevin Spacey on Sunday night, in conjunction with MRC, we sent a representative to set on Monday morning. Netflix was just made aware of one incident, five years ago, that we were informed was resolved swiftly," read a statement from Netflix. "On Tuesday, in collaboration with MRC, we suspended production, knowing that Kevin Spacey wasn’t scheduled to work until Wednesday. Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set."
“We are deeply troubled to learn about these new allegations that are being made to the press concerning Kevin Spacey’s interaction with members of the crew of 'House of Cards.' As the producer of the show, creating and maintaining a safe working environment for our cast and crew has always been our top priority," MRC added in their own statement. "We have consistently reinforced the importance of employees reporting any incident without fear of retaliation and we have investigated and taken appropriate actions following any complaints."
The news comes in the wake of an unconfirmed report from CNN, in which eight unnamed sources claimed that the actor harassed them on set. One person alleged that Spacey sexually assaulted him.
This is not the first time someone has made accusations about Spacey's alleged inappropriate behavior. On Sunday night, actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making a sexual advance toward him more than 30 years ago, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was in his twenties. Spacey tweeted a statement shortly thereafter, in which he said he did not remember the incident, but apologized to Rapp for "what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior."
Netflix and MRC responded almost immediately. On Monday, the companies announced that this forthcoming season of "House of Cards" would be the series' last -- a decision they said was made before the scandal broke. Two days later, they announced that they'd suspended production on the show until further notice.
On Thursday, MRC revealed that earlier in the week, the studio had installed an anonymous complaint hotline and brought in crisis counselors and sexual harassment legal advisers for the crew as well.
"We continue to collaborate with MRC and other production partners to maintain a safe and respectful working environment," Netflix added in their statement. "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.”