Kevin Spacey’s U.K. sexual assault trial continues, and on Wednesday, the court heard testimony from the third accuser.
The man, who met Spacey at a 2005 theater event, said he was excited to speak to The Usual Suspects actor, according to his police interview played in court. However, Spacey “smelled of booze” and appeared “disheveled,” he claimed. He claimed Spacey looked him up and down, including at his crotch, and asked lewd questions about his “size and genitalia.”
Later, he claimed Spacey grabbed his genitalia in a “forceful” and “painful” manner. “He was like a cobra and grabbed with such force it was really painful,” the accuser said. It was “like a cobra coming out and getting hold.” He said “it was aggressive. It wasn’t trying to be a seduction. It was angry.” He recalled “for a minute freezing” and then pushing Spacey’s arm away. He told Spacey, “I’m not like that.” The accuser said he felt “shell-shocked” and “horrible” because it was “degrading.” He said Spacey acted as if nothing had happened. He felt like he was “in the twilight zone.”
The accuser claimed the Oscar-winning actor, 63, made many “hardcore” and “vile comments” directed at him, which he felt were as violating as the alleged physical assault. Comments included Spacey asking him, “Have we f***ed?” and detailed questions about his sexual preferences. “I have never had anyone talk to me in that way,” he said.
The man said he didn’t go to police at the time, putting the experience “in a box” because Spacey was seen as a “golden boy.” He told police he was disappointed in the way Spacey has handled allegations against him, saying he “took no responsibility… he just said, ‘I’m gay.'”
On Thursday, the accuser will be cross-examined about his evidence in court.
Earlier in the day on Wednesday, the second accuser — whose police statement was played on Tuesday — testified remotely about his allegations. He and his friends met Spacey at a pub in the Cotswolds and the star invited them over for after-hours fun. However, he claimed Spacey kissed him twice and grabbed his crotch when they were alone. The man’s father testified on Wednesday as well, saying his son called him from Spacey’s and asked him to pick him up. When he did, the dad claimed his son was “very, very upset” and “immediately sprang into telling me what had occurred.”
For full coverage of each day’s hearing, follow Yahoo UK’s live blog.
The American Beauty and House of Cards star — referred to in London’s Southwark Crown Court by his legal name, “Kevin Spacey Fowler” — is facing 12 charges related to incidents involving four men between 2001 and 2013. The trial, under Judge Wall, is expected to last four weeks. The jury consists of nine men and three women.
Previous trial highlights:
July 4: The second accuser said, via his police interview that was played for the jury, that he was with friends at a pub in the Cotswolds when he met Spacey. They all drank together and when the pub closed, Spacey allegedly invited them to his home to keep the party going and offered booze and marijuana. When they were alone, the accuser claimed Spacey hugged him, kissed his neck twice and grabbed his crotch. He claimed Spacey told him to “be cool.” The accuser claimed he told him, “I am sorry, man, I don’t bat for that team” and pushed him away. He said Spacey had a “panicked” look. The accuser left the house and called his father to pick him up. He recounted the alleged unwanted touching to his father. He said he was “teary” and shaken up. According to prosecutors, when Spacey was questioned by police about the incident, he said he wouldn’t have touched anyone without an indication of consent, but said it was “entirely possible” that he made a “clumsy pass.”
July 3: The first accuser that testified met Spacey through London’s Old Vic theater. The man felt Spacey was “grooming” him from the “get-go,” promising to introduce him to A-list Hollywood stars and giving him and his girlfriend premiere tickets. Spacey was “pretending to be friendly and nice,” he claimed, when he was actually a “predator” and “aggressive.” He claimed Spacey assaulted a “dozen times” in a span of a few years — and when he’d call him out for groping him, the actor laughed. The accuser’s police interview was played in court and in it he compared Spacey to his serial killer character in David Fincher’s thriller Se7en: “He’s a bit like that. A bit creepy. Maybe not quite as bad.” He said the last alleged assault — which led him to cut ties with Spacey — was when he was driving with Spacey to a party hosted by Elton John and Spacey allegedly grabbed his genitals so hard that he almost crashed the car. “I pushed him against the door and said: ‘Don’t do that again or I will knock you out,'” he claimed Spacey giggled and called it “a turn-on.” During cross examination, Spacey’s attorney accused the man of being “excited” by the encounters, which the accuser denied. He said the alleged abuse led him to suffer anxiety and depression. When the attorney suggested he was financially motivated, he denied that too, saying: “I could do without the stress of this.”
June 30: During opening remarks, the actor was called a “sexual bully” by prosecutor Christine Agnew. The actor “abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him” to prey on men. She said his “preferred method” of assault was to “aggressively grab other men in the crotch” and claimed the star “delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable.” Spacey’s defense lawyer Patrick Gibbs said the actor denies all allegations of non-consensual activity, and told jurors they will hear half truths, “deliberate exaggerations” and “damned lies” as the case plays out.
June 28: The trial began with the jury selection. Judge Mark Wall told the 12 jurors and two alternates that the case has “attracted a lot of media coverage” and advised them to “rely on what you see and hear in this courtroom” and not use “your computer to research things” or read about the case.
Who are Spacey’s accusers and what are the charges?
Spacey pleaded not guilty to 12 charges — including sexual assault, indecent assault and one charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent — made by four unidentified men, who are now in their 30s and 40s. Under British law, it’s illegal to identify accusers in sexual assault cases or to publish information that may lead them to be identified.
During opening statements, Agnew outlined the allegations from the accusers, none of whom knew each other. She said three of the men told police that Spacey grabbed their crotch; one said Spacey repeatedly put the man’s hands onto his own crotch. Agnew said: “None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way but he doesn’t seem to have cared very much for their feelings. He did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification.”
One accuser claimed he “fell asleep or passed out” while having a drink with Spacey at Spacey’s apartment and woke up to find the actor had allegedly unzipped his pants and was performing oral sex on him. He claimed he said no and Spacey continued, so he pushed him off. Agnew claimed Spacey told the man not to tell anyone what happened; the man left and broke down in tears at a bus stop.
Another accuser, who was about 28 at the time, said he was seated near Spacey at Haymarket Theatre when the star asked him if they had previously “f***ed.” The “shocked” plaintiff initially ignored the remarks, but Spacey then put his hand on his leg. He said the assault took place later backstage when Spacey “grabbed [his] penis with such force it was painful.” When the person told Spacey to stop, the star allegedly laughed and said the man’s anger was a turn on.
Another accuser was a driver, aged between 30 and 34 at the time, for Spacey. He claimed he experienced “unwanted touching” by the actor, who would sit in the front seat. The contact became more aggressive with Spacey’s later grabbing and groping the man.
The final accuser said Spacey kissed his neck twice and grabbed his crotch when they were in a pub near Oxford in 2013. He claimed he pushed Spacey off him and against a wall.
The time period of the alleged assaults coincides with when Spacey served as artistic director of London’s historic Old Vic theater, from 2004 to 2015. His tenure later resulted in 20 complaints of alleged “inappropriate behavior” by the actor, who starred in many of the theater’s productions. The star maintains residences in London and the U.S.
Many allegations against Spacey amid #MeToo
The Unusual Suspect’s long-running Hollywood career came to a halt in 2017 when Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp publicly accused him of sexual misconduct. Rapp said he was just 14 years old in 1986 when he was targeted by Spacey, then 26. Spacey claimed he did “not remember the encounter,” and used his public statement to come out as gay.
The allegation was the first of many against Spacey, who has maintained his innocence. Many include inappropriately touching and making sexual advances toward younger men, including claims by Richard Dreyfuss’s son Harry and actor Roberto Cavazos.
The accusations have resulted in extensive legal issues for Spacey, beyond this U.K. case, which was first brought in May 2022 and saw the charges expand along the way.
In 2022, Rapp sued Spacey in a civil lawsuit, because the alleged incident was outside the statute of limitations in New York State, but ultimately lost the case.
In 2020, Spacey was ordered to pay House of Cards production company MRC nearly $31 million for alleged sexual misconduct behind the scenes of the show. Eight employees of the Netflix show claimed they witnessed or were victims of sexual assault from Spacey. Spacey was fired from the show in 2017, leading to millions in lost profits, producers said.
In 2018, Spacey faced criminal charges of indecent assault and battery after being accused of groping an 18-year-old at a Nantucket bar two years earlier. The charges were later dropped. The accuser also dropped a civil lawsuit.
Also in 2018, a California massage therapist, who accused Spacey of sexual assault, sued the star as well, but died in 2019, bringing an end to that case.
Spacey holds out hope of reviving his career
Spacey has made just one film since all this has happened, in Italy, but he holds out hope that a not-guilty verdict in this case will get him back to work in Hollywood again.
“There are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London,” Spacey told Germany’s Zeit magazine in June. “The second that happens, they’re ready to move forward.” He also said he “draws resilience” from positive fan encounters, adding, “The media have done their best to turn me into a monster, but from the people, I have seen nothing but affection.”
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on June 28, 2023 and has been updated with new information from the trial.
