Thousands Are Petitioning For Kevin James To Replace Kevin Spacey In ‘House Of Cards’

Ever since Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp first accused Kevin Spacey of sexual misconduct when Rapp was a minor, the future of Netflix’s series has been up in the air. However, the people have spoken and what they want for Frank Underwood in Season 6 is a bit unconventional. Say goodbye to Kevin Spacey and hello to Kevin James.

As soon as the sexual misconduct allegations started emerging, Netflix was quick to respond. The streaming service announced that its flagship drama would be ending after Season 6, and the show was shut down indefinitely soon after the accusations began. It’s also been revealed that Spacey allegedly harassed several employees on the set of the Netflix series. On Saturday, Netflix announced it had fired Spacey from the show, and there have even been reports that the steaming service is considering killing off Spacey’s character. So yeah. It’s likely a very stressful time to be a House of Cards writer right now.

All of these justified announcements have caused fans to wonder what will become of the flagship drama. As Decider’s own Brett White pointed out, there’s a way for the show to completely write off Spacey’s character and continue the series with Claire (Robin Wright) as president. But sometimes good citizens of the internet have a far more hilarious suggestion — President Paul Blart.

A petition directed toward Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has started to gain attention. Complete with a surprised photo of James, the petition calls for Netflix to replace Kevin Spacey with Kevin James. This casting swap, the petition’s creator Robbie Pyma argues, will elevate House of Cards to Game of Thrones levels of popularity. At the time of publication, close to 18,000 people had signed.

Why Kevin James of all people? As one comment puts it, “Kevin James is a national treasure. Kevin Spacey is a rapist. Both are named Kevin. Seems like a smart business decision to me.” (It should be noted that Spacey has hasn’t been accused of rape but sexual harassment and sexual assault.) The petition is also clearly a nod to the drama surrounding James’ latest show, Kevin Can Wait, which wrote off James’ onscreen wife Erinn Hayes for no real reason. James’ love interest has now been replaced with his former King of Queens co-star, Leah Remini. Regardless, both are named Kevin so … why not?

The petition needs a total of 25,000 signatures before it’s sent to Hastings. You know what you need to do.

Stream House of Cards on Netflix