Every word Kevin Spacey said after being cleared of sexually assaulting four men
A tearful Kevin Spacey broke his silence after being found not guilty of sexually assaulting four men.
He was accused of being a “sexual bully” who “aggressively” grabbed other men by the crotch in a series of alleged assaults from 2001 to 2013.
On July 26, he sobbed in the dock as he was found not guilty.
Speaking outside Southwark Crown Court, House Of Cards actor Spacey said he was “humbled” by the jury’s decision to clear him of nine sex offences.
"I'm imagining many of you can understand that there's a lot for me to process after what has just happened today," he said.
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The Hollywood actor leaving court after being found not guilty earlier today (James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)"But I would like to say that I'm enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision and I am humbled by the outcome today."
"I also want to thank the staff in this courthouse, the security and all those who took care of us every single day, my legal team… for being here every day.
“And that’s all I have to say for the moment. Thank you very much.” " he said.
Earlier today, Spacey wept as the verdicts were announced. The Oscar winner - who celebrates his 64th birthday today - was handed a tissue after jurors announced the not guilty decisions to the courtroom after 12 hours and 26 minutes of deliberation.
Following the not guilty verdicts being delivered, a spokesperson for thCrown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: "Following a thorough investigation by the Metropolitan Police, the CPS made the decision to charge Kevin Spacey with sexual offences.
“The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges.
The actor wiped away tears as he was found not guilty of sexually assaulting for men (PA)“It is the role of the jury to consider the charges and we respect the decision of the court.”
The American Beauty actor had been on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of sexually assaulting four men. He was 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
During the trial, the court heard how one of Spacey's accusers alleged he awoke to find the House of Cards actor on his knees performing a sex act on him without his consent, following an evening of drinking and smoking at Spacey’s £2.8million Waterloo apartment.
But Spacey, who was the artistic director at The Old Vic theatre in London between 2003 and 2015, insisted the sex act was consensual.
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He admitted being “big flirt” but denied abusing his power and influence as the “golden boy” of the London theatre scene to grope men. The two-time Oscar winner also admitted to engaging in casual sexual encounters, but told the jury: “It doesn’t make me a bad person.”
Speaking in court on July 13, Spacey took to the witness box and a jury head the Baby Driver actor recall his childhood and how he embarked on a career as an actor. The court heard that he considered his appearance in 1992 movie Glengarry Glen Ross to be his first significant film role. He added 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.
Spacey outside Southwark Crown Court following the verdict (PA)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."
The actor said he was “humbled” by the jury’s decision to clear him of nine sex offences earlier today. Following the verdict being delivered, Mr Justice Wall told Spacey he was free to leave the dock, and after jurors had left the room, the star embraced his legal team and wiped tears from his eyes.
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