LONDON (AP) — A person who says Kevin Spacey subjected him to a torrent of verbal abuse and grabbed his crotch denied claims by the Hollywood star’s lawyer on Thursday that he had concocted the assault allegations, saying he’d saved the “horrific” incident bottled up for years.
The man is one in every of 4 who say the two-time Academy Award winner assaulted them in Britain between 2001 and 2013. For a lot of that point, Spacey was inventive director of the Old Vic Theatre in London.
Spacey, 63, is standing trial in a London court docket on 12 expenses, which embrace sexual assault, indecent assault and inflicting an individual to interact in penetrative sexual exercise with out consent. He denies all of the allegations, and his lawyer has steered the accusers are on the lookout for payouts from Spacey.
The third alleged sufferer to testify stated that Spacey, smelling strongly of alcohol, peppered him with a “machine-gun” torrent of crude verbal abuse earlier than grabbing him by the crotch “like a cobra” backstage at a London theater throughout a charity occasion within the early 2000s.
During cross-examination, Spacey’s legal professional, Patrick Gibbs, alleged that many elements of the accuser’s story had been “completely untrue.”
“With the greatest respect, you weren’t there and I was,” replied the person, who can’t be recognized below British regulation and gave proof out of sight of members of the general public. “It was horrific. And I have never had anyone speak to me in that way, ever.”
He stated the incident left him feeling “degraded” and “like I was worthless.”
The man denied the lawyer’s suggestion that he had sought to “monetize” his assembly with Spacey.
Pressed on why he didn’t converse out on the time, the accuser stated that “Mr. Spacey was a shining light of the West End” and he feared that “if I say anything, I will be the problem.”
“It was such a horrible thing. I stored it away in a box in my mind and tried not to think about it,” he stated.
The alleged sufferer is the third man to say Spacey aggressively grabbed his crotch, and prosecutors have described the actor as a predatory “sexual bully.”
The jury of 9 males and three girls is scheduled to listen to from a fourth accuser subsequent week. The trial started final week at London’s Southwark Crown Court and is anticipated to final for nearly a month.
Spacey, who’s free on unconditional bail, may face a jail sentence if he’s convicted.
One of Hollywood’s greatest names till sexual misconduct allegations derailed his profession, Spacey received a finest supporting actor Academy Award for the 1995 movie “The Usual Suspects” and a lead actor Oscar for the 1999 film “American Beauty.” He ran London’s Old Vic between 2004 and 2015.
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