Prosecutors painted actor Kevin Spacey as a “sexual bully” during opening statements of his criminal trial Friday.
Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
The charges stem from allegations from four different men.
Spacey is “a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable — a sexual bully,” prosecutor Christine Agnew said in her opening statement. “His preferred method of assault is, it appears, to grab aggressively other men in the crotch.”
KEVIN SPACEY PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO SEXUAL ASSAULT CHARGES IN LONDON COURT
Kevin Spacey was a “sexual bully,” prosecutors said during opening statements Friday at his criminal trial in London. (Getty Images)
Defense lawyer Patrick Gibbs said Spacey denied all allegations of nonconsensual activity and told jurors to ask themselves as they listened to the evidence what – if anything – had occurred when he was with the men. He suggested the alleged victims had other motives and that Spacey had left himself open to opportunists when he came out as gay in 2020.
He said jurors would hear truths, half-truths, deliberate exaggerations and “many damned lies.”
All the allegations were made while Spacey worked as the artistic director at the Old Vic Theater in London. The four victims, who do not know each other, all have similar accounts of being groped by the “American Beauty” actor.
In his statement to police, Spacey said he hadn’t done anything without consent. He said it was “entirely possible and indeed likely” he had made a “clumsy pass” but denied grabbing anyone’s crotch. He suggested some of the men were seeking financial gain.
A jury of nine men and five women, including two alternates, will decide his fate during the four-week trial in Southwark Crown Court, where he is identified by his full name, Kevin Spacey Fowler. The actor, who has homes in London and the U.S., is free on bail.
Kevin Spacey arrives at a London court for his sexual assault trial. (Getty Images)
Spacey first faced allegations of sexual misconduct when actor Anthony Rapp came forward in 2017. Rapp accused Spacey of assaulting him at a party in the 1980s. Spacey was found not liable in Rapp’s civil case against him.
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Following Rapp’s claim, more men came forward with accusations against Spacey, and he was booted from the Netflix show “House of Cards.”
Spacey returned to the screen with roles in Italian director Franco Nero’s “The Man Who Drew God,” the biopic “Once Upon a Time in Croatia” and the film “Peter Five Eight.”
Kevin Spacey’s criminal trial in London began June 28. (Getty Images)
The actor has claimed he would be back in demand if he was not charged in the U.S.
“There are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges,” Spacey said in an interview published this month in Germany’s Zeit magazine.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
