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Actor Kevin Spacey has been on trial since Wednesday on sexual assault charges. TOBY MELVILLE/REUTERS
Tried this week in London for charges of sexual assault by several young men dating from 2017, the actor defends himself and invokes “invented” facts. According to the prosecution, he took advantage of his status to achieve his ends.
Accused of sexual assault by four men, American actor Kevin Spacey remained impassive on Friday at his trial in London where the prosecution described him as a “sexual harasserhaving taken advantage of his influence to achieve his ends. The Hollywood star has pleaded not guilty to all 12 sexual assault charges against four men between 2001 and 2013, including from 2004 when he was manager of London’s Old Vic theatre.
Kevin Spacey is “a man who does not respect boundaries or personal space“, Who “likes to make others (…) uncomfortable, a sexual harasser“Said from the outset the representative of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS, the British prosecution), Christine Agnew. After the selection of the jury and the statement of the charges on Wednesday, the floor was on Friday morning for the prosecution, which detailed the assaults that the four men, who cannot be identified under English law, say they have suffered.
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The actor, twice Oscar winner for his roles in American Beauty And Usual Suspects would have “touched (one of them) inappropriately (…) trying to grab his buttocks“. “On several occasions, Kevin Spacey grabbed (this man’s) genitals through his clotheswithout his consent, she added. Another alleged victim, who was 28 at the time of the incident, claims to have met the actor in a theater in 2005 and that he “grabbed the penis with such force that it hurt him“, further detailed the prosecution.
A third man, met by the actor in a pub one evening in 2013 before going to a party together, accuses the actor of grabbing and squeezing his crotch with his hand, after kissing him on the neck , despite his refusal. Finally, a 23-year-old rookie actor was allegedly assaulted in 2008. According to the prosecution, the alleged victim, after being invited by Kevin Spacey for a drink in an apartment, fell asleep and then woke up when she realized that the actor was performing oral sex on her. Despite his refusal, he would have continued and the victim would have pushed him away, before leaving the apartment.
Listening to his accusations, the actor remained impassive in the glass box of the defendants of the Southwark Crown Court, where he appeared free. A little earlier, he had arrived smiling, dressed in a gray suit and a yellow tie.
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“Invented and distorted”
The four men claimed during the investigation that they had not dared to speak earlier, one of them indicating, for example, “that he wasn’t sure he was believed, and that even if he had been, he didn’t think he would have been supported“, explained the prosecution. These accusations emerged in 2017 at the start of the #MeToo movement, when Kevin Spacey was at the height of his fame, lead performer of the hit Netflix series House of Cards . In the process, he was landed from the series and other projects in which he was to participate.
During the investigation, Kevin Spacey denied these accusations, saying that some were “inventedand that other acts described were “consensualsaid Christine Agnew. Kevin Spacey also felt that some alleged victims would seek financial compensation by filing this lawsuit. Speaking shortly after, the actor’s lawyer, Patrick Gibbs, said the trial would clarify “what happened, (…) what was invented or distorted and why and when, because all this (…) happened a long time ago“.
“Kevin Spacey was wealthy and influential“, he added, asking the jurors to question the intentions of the alleged victims. “What did they expect from his wealth and influence? And what are they waiting for today? he asked, saying the issue of consent would be a key subject of the trial. Also accused of sexual assault in the United States, Kevin Spacey was found not guilty last year by a New York civil court. And in 2019, the charges were dropped in another case.
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