UK

Kevin Spacey trial: Actor says allegation he grabbed man’s crotch is ‘absolute b****cks’

Spacey denies ‘crotch grabs’ are his ‘trademark’ during questioning by prosecutor in London court

Actor Kevin Spacey arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London on July 14th, 2023. Photograph: EPA

Fri Jul 14 2023 - 14:32

Kevin Spacey on Friday described an allegation he grabbed a man’s crotch as “absolute b****cks” in combative exchanges with prosecutors at the Oscar-winning actor’s sexual assault trial.

Mr Spacey (63) has pleaded not guilty at London’s Southwark Crown Court to 12 charges of sexual offences allegedly committed against four men in Britain between 2001 and 2013.

The offences allegedly took place at a time when he was mainly living and working in Britain, including from 2003 as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.

The four accusers have alleged Mr Spacey aggressively groped them and, in the case of one complainant, performed oral sex on him while he was passed out in Mr Spacey’s flat.

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The two-time Academy Award winner was questioned on Friday by prosecutor Christine Agnew, who asked Mr Spacey about a complainant who alleges Mr Spacey painfully grabbed his crotch like “a cobra” in the mid-2000s.

The actor said the man had “made up his entire story from beginning to end”.

He also described the allegation as “absolute b****cks”.

Ms Agnew replied: “Yep – because that’s exactly where you did grab him, isn’t it?”

Mr Spacey asked: “Did he accuse me of grabbing his b****cks?” He then said: “I didn’t.”

The American actor was also asked why he thought the accuser was making up his allegations. Mr Spacey replied: “Money, money and then money.”

Ms Agnew asked Mr Spacey whether the “crotch grab” was something that he would “normally do to someone you had met for the first time”. Mr Spacey replied: “No.”

Questioned on whether it was something he had done before that had worked, and that he considered it a “trademark”, the actor replied: “No. Let me put it this way, it is the term ‘grabbing a crotch’ or ‘groping a crotch’ that I object to.”

He said he was “an affectionate person” and would hug people when he met them, but that he would not pursue someone if they did not appear to be interested in him.

Mr Spacey also said: “I, at times, was promiscuous and I had casual, indiscriminate sexual encounters.”

Ms Agnew asked Spacey if he felt a “frisson of excitement” if he propositioned straight men. The actor said: “I don’t know if somebody’s gay or straight by looking at them.”

The actor was asked about one of the four complainants, who alleges Mr Spacey gave him an “awkward” hug, kissing his neck and then grabbed his crotch, after he went with friends to where Mr Spacey was staying near Oxford in central England.

The actor has admitted making a “clumsy pass” at the man, but denied sexually assaulting him.

“I definitely misread the signs that I thought (the man) was sending, I accept that,” Mr Spacey said on Friday.

Mr Spacey added that his contact with the man was not “what you would call a grab or a grope – it is a gentle touch”.

Ms Agnew asked if there had been “the beginning of a squeeze” of the man’s genitals, which Mr Spacey said there may have been.

Mr Spacey described his encounters with two of the other complainants as “consensual interactions”, adding: “If they went further than they wanted, they didn’t tell me.” – Reuters

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