LOS ANGELES: Disgraced US movie star Kevin Spacey will have to pay almost $31 million to the production company that made the series “House of Cards” in which he starred until he was fired over allegations of sexual harassment, according to legal documents made public Monday.
MRC, the production company that made the popular tale of political intrigue that was broadcast on Netflix, had sought damages for lost revenue attributed to Spacey’s abrupt exit after allegations of harassment and sexual abuse emerged.
An arbitration judge made the ruling on October 19 when MRC filed a petition to confirm the verdict in a Los Angeles court.
In the document, MRC detailed that after the allegations came to light it suspended Spacey and launched an investigation which found that the “American Beauty” star had “breached provisions of both the Acting and Executive Producing Agreements that set standards for his workplace conduct, including by breaching MRC’s Harassment Policy.”
The wave of accusations that halted the 62-year-old’s illustrious career coincided with the rise of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and abuse, sparked by the case of the all-powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Two-time Oscar winner Spacey had starred as unscrupulous US politician Frank Underwood in five seasons of “House of Cards” until the allegations of sexual harassment against co-workers were made public in the media.
“MRC had no knowledge whatsoever of any such conduct by Spacey with any cast or crew associated with the Show,” the company said in its petition.
The production company said the actor’s abrupt exit from the popular series required a reorganization that resulted in “substantial losses” for MRC.
It had to rewrite the script excluding Underwood, the main character of the series, and redesign the sixth season that went from 13 to eight episodes.
The production company launched its legal battle against Spacey in 2019. The actor’s legal representatives did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
Kevin Spacey to pay Netflix $31 mn after losing arbitration case with makers of ‘House of Cards’
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Kevin Spacey to pay Netflix $31 mn after losing arbitration case with makers of ‘House of Cards’
- Netflix had sought damages for lost revenue attributed to Spacey’s abrupt exit from the show after allegations of harassment and sexual abuse emerged
OpenAI’s Altman says world ‘urgently’ needs AI regulation
- Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, told a global artificial intelligence conference on Thursday that the world “urgently” needs to regulate the fast-evolving technology
NEW DELHI: Sam Altman, head of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, told a global artificial intelligence conference on Thursday that the world “urgently” needs to regulate the fast-evolving technology.
An organization could be set up to coordinate these efforts, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said.
Altman is one of a host of top tech CEOs in New Delhi for the AI Impact Summit, the fourth annual global meeting on how to handle advanced computing power.
“Democratization of AI is the best way to ensure humanity flourishes,” he said on stage, adding that “centralization of this technology in one company or country could lead to ruin.”
“This is not to suggest that we won’t need any regulation or safeguards,” Altman said.
“We obviously do, urgently, like we have for other powerful technologies.”
Many researchers and campaigners believe stronger action is needed to combat emerging issues, ranging from job disruption to sexualized deepfakes and AI-enabled online scams.
“We expect the world may need something like the IAEA for international coordination of AI,” with the ability to “rapidly respond to changing circumstances,” Altman said.
“The next few years will test global society as this technology continues to improve at a rapid pace. We can choose to either empower people or concentrate power,” he added.
“Technology always disrupts jobs; we always find new and better things to do.”
Generative AI chatbot ChatGPT has 100 million weekly users in India, more than a third of whom are students, he said.
Earlier on Thursday, OpenAI announced with Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) a plan to build data center infrastructure in the South Asian country.
