Kevin Spacey says 'I'm a big flirt' and denies touching accuser in 'painful' way
Kevin Spacey gave evidence in court today and denied touching his accuser in an aggressive manner.
The Oscar-winning actor, 63, told a jury at Southwark Crown Court he found his first alleged victim to be "charming and funny".
Spacey is accused of "aggressively" grabbing the man’s crotch while he drove him to a showbiz party in the early 2000s.
The House of Cards star accepted that he touched one of the complainants but not in a "violent, aggressive, painful way".
Giving evidence today, Spacey described his accuser as "a lads’ lad, he was funny and charming and flirtatious."
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He added that he touched the man in "romantic" and "intimate" ways, telling the court: "I’m a big flirt."
Kevin Spacey gave evidence in Southwark Crown Court today (PA)Spacey is charged with three counts of indecent assault, seven counts of sexual assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent between 2001 and 2005
Patrick Gibbs KC, Spacey's defence lawyer, told the jury at Southwark Crown Court that he would be calling the Hollywood actor to the witness box today. The two-time Oscar winner began by swearing an oath to tell the truth during his evidence. A jury heard the Outbreak actor talk about his childhood and how he became an actor.
Spacey continued told jurors that he considered his appearance in 1992 movie Glengarry Glen Ross to be his first significant film role. He told the court that his mother "considered herself an Anglophile" and he first visited the UK as a child. He told the jury he first came to London as an actor in 1986 and stayed for several months.
The actor went on to discuss his past involvement in the Old Vic theatre in London. Spacey was artistic director of the theatre until 2015. He told the jury that the same year he was "given an opportunity to do a television series that was going to shoot in the US that was called House Of Cards".
Spacey then told a jury he found his first alleged victim to be "charming and funny". He is accused of "aggressively" grabbing the man’s crotch while he drove him to a showbiz party in the early 2000s. Spacey told jurors he had made efforts to find out where he was at the time alleged offences took place.
A court heard the American Beauty actor say: "I happen to keep everything, so I have a storage facility in Baltimore and a storage unit in London, and I started to go back and look through boxes and boxes and boxes of where I was, contracts between myself, my publicists and photographers, to look at dates to try to be able to say where I was and what time."
Asked if he liked the man, Spacey said: "I liked him a great deal. We had a good time together. We laughed a lot." He continued to describe his relationship with the alleged victim as "somewhat intimate". He told jurors: "We talked about a lot of things, it was very relaxed with him – somewhat intimate. We enjoyed each other’s company."
Spacey accepted that he touched one of the complainants but not in a "violent, aggressive, painful way". A court heard Spacey say: "He was a lads’ lad, he was funny and charming and flirtatious." Spacey then added that he touched the man in "romantic" and "intimate" ways, telling the court: "I’m a big flirt".
Spacey said he and the man did not take things further because the alleged victim "made it clear that he did not want to go any further and that happens at times, and you just respect how far someone wants to go". He said: "I can’t remember specific conversations we had but I remember the tone, I remember the atmosphere, I remember the laughter. We had a very fun time together."
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The actor accepted that he touched the man but insisted: "It did not happen in a violent, aggressive, painful way. It was gentle… and it was, in my mind, romantic." He denied that he almost caused the first complainant to "come off the road" after he "grabbed" the man while he was driving him to a showbiz party, saying: "That never happened. I was not on a suicide mission on any of those years."
Spacey described accusations against him by a man he allegedly met at a West End theatre in the mid-2000s as "madness". He is alleged to have grabbed the man’s crotch "like a cobra" after a "barrage of vile comments". "It’s madness,” Spacey told the jury. “It never happened. I never said any of the things that he claims I said to him and wouldn’t and never have to anyone in my life.2
He continued to tell the jury he did not recognise the complainant "at all" when showed a photograph of him. Asked what he remembered of the day in question, Spacey said: "Not a great deal."
Spacey then told a jury that a complainant "hurriedly left" after the pair shared in an "intimate moment". The complainant, an aspiring actor, told the court about an incident in the late 2000s where "things went further", claiming Spacey had drugged him before waking up to find the defendant performing a sex act on him.
In court today, Spacey said: "We had had a sexual encounter after which I had gone to the bathroom and I came back from the bathroom and it was like… something had changed. The person that I had this intimate moment with was suddenly awkward and fumbling… and I don’t want to say ran out… but hurriedly left. And it felt very odd. I felt like maybe he was making an excuse and it concerned me and my memory is… that I called this person to make sure they were OK… and they were OK."
Spacey told a jury he did not drug the accuser or perform a sex act on him while he was sleeping, saying that behaviour "makes no logical sense". He told the jury at Southwark Crown Court: "I remember the end of the evening and that was what struck me in my mind because we had a consensual and, I believe, a very nice and lovely evening. If he regretted it immediately I don’t know, I can’t speak for him, but something was weird – it was strange."
Asked if he remembered any physical contact he had with the man, Spacey told jurors: “I don’t remember but I know the way I am with someone and I would never be behaving in the way he claimed – it makes no logical sense. I think we were very comfortable with each other." He said he did perform a sex act on the man but claimed it was consensual.
The trial continues.
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