LONDON (AP) — A London jury acquitted Kevin Spacey on sexual assault expenses on Wednesday after a four-week trial wherein the actor mentioned he was a “big flirt” who had consensual flings with males and whose solely misstep was touching a person’s groin whereas making a “clumsy pass.”
Three males accused the Oscar winner of aggressively grabbing their crotches. A fourth, an aspiring actor in search of mentorship, mentioned he awoke to the actor performing oral intercourse on him after going to Spacey’s London residence for a beer and both falling asleep or passing out.
All the lads mentioned the contact was undesirable however Spacey testified that the younger actor and one other man had willingly participated in consensual acts. He mentioned a 3rd man’s allegation that he grabbed his privates like a putting “cobra” backstage at a theater was “pure fantasy.”
He mentioned he didn’t keep in mind a fourth incident at a small celebration at a house he rented within the nation however accepted that he touched the groin of a person he had met at a pub throughout an evening of heavy consuming. He mentioned he had misinterpret the person’s curiosity in him and mentioned he had in all probability made an ungainly go.
Defense lawyer Patrick Gibbs mentioned three of the lads had been liars and incidents had been “reimagined with a sinister spin.” He accused most of them of hopping on a “bandwagon” of complaints within the hope of putting it wealthy.
Prosecutor Christine Agnew instructed jurors that Spacey was a “sexual bully” who took what he needed when he needed. She mentioned he was shielded by a “trinity of protection”: he knew males had been unlikely to complain; they wouldn’t be believed in the event that they did complain; and in the event that they did complain, no motion could be taken as a result of he was highly effective.
Spacey, who turned 64 on Wednesday, confronted 9 expenses, together with a number of counts of sexual assault and one rely of inflicting an individual to have interaction in penetrative sexual exercise with out consent.
The accusations date from 2001 to 2013 and embody a interval when Spacey — after profitable Academy Awards for “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty” — had returned to the theater, his past love. During most of that interval he was creative director of the Old Vic Theatre in London.
The males got here ahead after an American actor accused Spacey of an incident of sexual misconduct because the #MeToo motion heated up in 2017.
Several of the lads mentioned they’d been haunted by the abuse and couldn’t bear to observe Spacey’s movies.
One of the lads broke down when talking with police as he supplied particulars in a videotaped interview concerning the oral intercourse incident that he mentioned he’d by no means instructed anybody earlier than. Another man mentioned he was indignant concerning the abuse that occurred sporadically over a number of years and started to drink and work out extra to deal with it.
Spacey choked up and have become teary eyed within the witness field as he described the emotional and monetary turmoil that the U.S. accusations introduced and the barrage of criticism that adopted on social media.
“My world exploded,” Spacey testified. “There was a rush to judgment and before the first question was asked or answered I lost my job, I lost my reputation, I lost everything in a matter of days.”
Gibbs mentioned Spacey was being “monstered” on the web each night time and have become poisonous within the business.
Spacey was booted from “House of Cards” and his scenes in “All the Money in the World,” had been scrubbed and he was changed by Christopher Plummer. Aside from some small initiatives, he has barely labored as an actor in six years.
A New York jury final 12 months swiftly cleared Spacey in a $40 million lawsuit by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp on allegations relationship again three a long time.
Spacey had considered the London case as an opportunity for redemption, telling German journal Zeit final month that there have been “people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London.”
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