Kevin Spacey acquitted of sexual assault charges
Two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey has been acquitted of sexual assault charges by a London jury, opening the door for him to resume his acting career after being cleared of allegations made by four men.
The Southwark Crown Court jury returned its verdict on Wednesday, finding Spacey not guilty on all nine charges stemming from alleged assaults between 2001 and 2013.
“I would like to say that I am enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision,” the actor told reporters on the courthouse steps.
Prosecutors had accused Spacey of being a “sexual bully” who targeted younger men. He was accused of “aggressively” grabbing the crotches of three men and of performing a sexual act on an aspiring actor who had fallen asleep in his London apartment.
Spacey testified on his own behalf for two days, saying that he had merely been promiscuous, seeking sexual relations with men during periods when he was lonely. He claimed that those flings were consensual.
The UK accusers came forward in 2017, at the height of the #MeToo movement, after allegations against Spacey by Broadway actor Anthony Rapp were made public. Last October, a New York City jury cleared Spacey of Rapp’s accusations in a $40 million civil lawsuit. Rapp claimed that he was molested by Spacey in 1986, when he was only 14 years old.
Spacey, who turned 64 on Wednesday, testified that he was devastated by going six years without getting an acting job because of the assault allegations.
“My world exploded,” he said. “There was a rush to judgment before the first question was asked or answered. I lost my job, I lost my reputation, I lost everything in a matter of days.”
After winning the Rapp case, the Hollywood star landed a voice part in an independent film called ‘Control.’ He told a German magazine last month that he had other prospective gigs pending with people who were “ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London.”
After the allegations against Spacey were first made public, the actor quickly lost the lead role in the hit political TV series ‘House of Cards’, having his character promptly killed off. He was also erased from Ridley Scott’s 2017 drama ‘All the Money in the World’ during post-production, where his role was recast with a different actor.
Spacey won the 2000 Oscar for Best Actor for his role in ‘American Beauty,’ and he was named the Best Supporting Actor for his part in ‘The Usual Suspects’ in 1996.
