Kevin Spacey acquitted by London jury on sexual assault charges – National | 24CA News
A London jury acquitted Kevin Spacey on sexual assault prices on Wednesday after a four-week trial through which 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 searching for 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 hanging “cobra” backstage at a theatre was “pure fantasy.”
He mentioned he didn’t keep in mind a fourth incident at a small get together 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 most likely made a clumsy move.
Defence 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 hanging it wealthy.
Prosecutor Christine Agnew informed jurors that Spacey was a “sexual bully” who took what he wished when he wished. 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 can be taken as a result of he was highly effective.
Spacey, who turned 64 on Wednesday, confronted 9 prices, together with a number of counts of sexual assault and one depend of inflicting an individual to have interaction in penetrative sexual exercise with out consent.
The accusations date from 2001 to 2013 and embrace a interval when Spacey — after profitable Academy Awards for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty — had returned to the theatre, his past love. During most of that interval he was inventive 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 that they had been haunted by the abuse and couldn’t bear to look at Spacey’s movies.
One of the lads broke down when talking with police as he offered particulars in a videotaped interview in regards to the oral intercourse incident that he mentioned he’d by no means informed anybody earlier than. Another man mentioned he was offended in regards to the abuse that occurred sporadically over a number of years and commenced 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 judgement 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 evening and have become poisonous within the trade.
Spacey was booted from House of Cards and his scenes in All the Money within the World, had been scrubbed and he was changed by Christopher Plummer. Aside from some small tasks, he has barely labored as an actor in six years.
A New York jury final yr 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.”
© 2023 The Canadian Press
