HHollywood actor Kevin Spacey made a confident impression at the start of the criminal case against himself for alleged sexual assault. When he arrived at the courthouse in London on Wednesday morning, he smiled and waved to the waiting press. The 63-year-old two-time Oscar winner (“American Beauty”, “The Usual Suspects”) has been accused of sexual offenses against four men. He denies the allegations.
Spacey, wearing a dark suit and pink tie, took his place in a glass case for the defendant in Southwark Crown Court’s unadorned Courtroom 1 before the judge opened the hearing. Spacey eyed the jury members carefully as they were called one by one and took their places on the jury box. He followed the reading of the charges largely motionless. The first day of the meeting was over after just a few hours. The hearing is scheduled to continue on Friday.
The sexual offenses he is accused of ranging from unwanted touching to coercion to have sexual intercourse and are said to have occurred between 2001 and 2013 in London and in the county of Gloucestershire. Spacey was artistic director at the renowned London theater Old Vic from 2004 to 2015 and lived in the British capital for a time.
The former Netflix House of Cards star has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges and has made it clear he sees the trial as an opportunity to clear his name. Whether it comes to liberation or whether the four-week process becomes the last act for the once celebrated actor now depends on the jury. If found guilty, he could face a prison sentence.
Spacey won civil case in USA
This isn’t the first time the actor has faced court allegations of sexual misconduct. Last year he had to face a civil lawsuit in the United States. Actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of sexually assaulting and injuring Spacey at a party in 1986. He demanded $40 million in damages. But Spacey won the case. Two other civil lawsuits in the US have been dropped.
Guilty or not – Spacey’s acting career was temporarily over when the allegations arose. Rapp’s allegations, which were made public for the first time in 2017 in the course of the #MeToo debate, led to many other allegations and shaken Spacey’s then successful career. Netflix ended its collaboration on the hit series House of Cards and is suing him for damages after complaints about him from employees on the set. The Old Vic also distanced itself from him – allegations had also been made there. Scenes with him in the thriller All The Money in the World were even removed after the fact.
Very shy of the media for a long time, Spacey opened up to the “Zeit” magazine, which published a detailed report in mid-June about several conversations with the previously popular Hollywood star. Spacey was thoughtful about his past behavior towards others. “I think I tried really hard not to be an asshole. But I think to some extent I was an asshole,” he said of his interactions with other people as a star. He did not comment on the allegations made against him.
