Kevin Spacey’s accuser describes the Oscar-winning actor as a ‘slippery, snake-like’ predator to avoid
LONDON (AP) — One of Kevin Spacey’s accusers described the Oscar-winning actor in a London court Monday as a “slick, devious” predator that handsome young men should avoid.
The man, who worked with Spacey when he came to the Old Vic Theater in the British capital in the early 2000s, said the American actor offered to introduce him to Hollywood stars. But the man said word around the playhouse was to be careful around Spacey.
“It was common knowledge that he was up to no good,” the man said in a video of his police interview played to jurors in Spacey’s sexual assault trial. “He was almost right from the start to take care of me.”
The accuser, who cannot be identified under UK law, is one of four men charged with assault in the UK by the former ‘House of Cards’ star
He said Spacey made him uncomfortable by questioning him about his sexuality, then became “touchy” and progressed to aggressive groping when they were alone together. He compared Spacey to the villain he played in the 1995 thriller “Se7en” about a serial killer motivated by the seven deadly sins.
“He’s a bit like that, a bit creepy,” the man said in his police interview last year.
Spacey, 63, pleaded not guilty to a dozen counts for events dating from 2001 to 2013. The charges include assault, indecent assault and solicitation of penetrative sexual activity without a person’s consent.
He could go to prison if convicted, although Spacey told a German magazine he expects to be offered work “once I am cleared of these charges”.
The trial, expected to last four weeks, will continue on Tuesday before a jury of nine men and three women at Southwark Crown Court.
Once one of the greatest actors of his generation, Spacey won an Academy Award for a Supporting Actor in ‘The Usual Suspects’ in 1995 and an Oscar for Best Actor for the 1999 film ‘American Beauty’. He has also won awards for stage and the small screen.
His career dried up as allegations of sexual misconduct arose against him as the #MeToo movement exploded. He was written off the Netflix political thriller “House of Cards” and cut from the finished film “All the Money in the World.”
The actor, who has homes in the US and London, is out on bail. From 2003 to 2015 he was the artistic director of Old Vic.
The man who testified Monday said he reacted with horror when Spacey first made physical contact by rubbing his neck early in their working relationship in the early 2000s.
“The first time he touched me was just a huge shock,” he said. “I just don’t like people shaking hands with me.”
When he complained to a woman he worked for, she laughed it off and said, “You can handle it, you can handle it.” We all know what he’s like,” he said.
The man said he’d decided he didn’t want to “upset the apple cart” and got on with his job.
But he said when Spacey escalated to grab his crotch and take his hand to rub the actor’s own genitals on the pants, he began to fear when Spacey would return to London.
He described how Spacey leaned in as he sat next to him and let his hand wander to his leg and then to the inside of his thigh. At that point in the testimony, Spacey similarly leaned on his right elbow as he listened from the courtroom.
During cross-examination, attorney Patrick Gibbs suggested that the man, who was disguised behind a curtain in the courtroom, was confused by the touch and even aroused by it.
“Nothing happened between us. He attacked me,” the man replied. “I was doing my job and he was the one who touched me.”
Gibbs confronted the man with a photo he posted to social media six years ago that appears to have his arm wrapped around Spacey’s back.
“Were you sick of standing there next to each other?” asked Gibbs.
The man said he used the image to promote his business.
“Anyone on social media would have killed for a photo like that,” he said.
He said the final straw came on a day when he drove Spacey to a celebrity summer gala in 2004 or 2005. The star grabbed his crotch violently and he almost ran off the road, the man testified.
“He grabbed me really hard, and it really hurt,” he said. “I pushed him against the door and said, ‘Don’t do that again or I’ll knock you out.'”
“That’s such an excitement for me,” he replied to Spacey. “You are such a man.”
However, Gibbs said Spacey only attended that gala once — three or four years earlier than the witness claimed.
The defense attorney also showed the jurors a snapshot that the man sent Spacey of himself as a thank you for his support during a charity hike in the Rocky Mountains of North America. The man also kept a warm letter that Spacey wrote to him after donating £5,000 ($6,350) for the trek.
Spacey told police when questioned that he considered the man a “smart” and “charming” friend and was stunned and deeply hurt by his accusations. He suggested that the man reimagine their time together to make false accusations because he was too embarrassed to admit the truth or because he was looking for financial gain.
Under cross-examination, the man said he may have considered suing Spacey, but that whatever monetary award he won in court “wouldn’t be enough”.
The man said he told a few people in his life about his experience with Spacey for fear it would affect his career. He said he decided to come forward last year after Spacey was accused of assaulting the three other alleged victims in the case.
“That’s a big part of it,” the man said. “Strength in numbers, right?”
“Or is it that in 2022 you saw a train go by and you decided to jump on board?” asked Gibbs.
“That’s not true at all,” said the man.
He said that he never got over the shame he felt after his encounters with Spacey and that he cannot bring himself to watch the actor’s movies or TV shows.
“I can’t stand looking at that man. It makes me sick,” he said.
