Two-time Oscar winner is being prosecuted for four sexual assaults on three men between March 2005 and April 2013
American actor Kevin Spacey appeared in court on Thursday in London for a pre-trial hearing, facing charges of sexual assault on three men that he disputes. Released after a first hearing almost a month ago, the star actor of the series House of Cards is prosecuted for four sexual assaults on three men between March 2005 and April 2013. The 62-year-old actor is notably accused of having forced one of them to engage in sexual activity with penetration without his consent, a charge which distinct from rape (which involves penetration with a penis) in English law.
Kevin Spacey has pleaded not guilty to all five counts against him. Some facts are said to have been committed in the Lambeth district of London, where the Old Vic theater is located, of which he was artistic director between 2004 and 2015.
After the green light from the prosecution, the actor said to himself “disappointed“but had announced his intention to appear in front of the British justice for”prove one’s innocence“. “Mr. Spacey strenuously denies any foul play in the case“, had declared on June 16 his lawyer, Patrick Gibbs, “he must answer these charges to move on with his life“.
The charges against him were made in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the Weinstein scandal, named after the American film producer targeted by numerous accusations of harassment and sexual assault, revealed in the fall of 2017. They had serious consequences on the career of the two-time Oscar-winning actor (for American Beauty and Usual Suspects). Evolving on the boards before being devoted to the cinema, he had been landed by Netflix from the hit series House of Cards where he played the main character. His big comeback to the cinema-in the film The Uomo Che Disegno Dio (The man who draws God) – had however been announced last year.
In the United States, Kevin Spacey had been charged with indecent assault and sexual assault in the state of Massachusetts, on the East Coast. He was accused of having, in July 2016, got his hands on the sex of an 18-year-old young man employed in a bar, after having made him drink. But the charges were dropped in July 2019.
In late May, he appeared before a New York judge for a procedural hearing in a civil suit brought by actor Anthony Rapp, who accused him of making sexual advances to her when he was teenager. Kevin Spacey had denied and the action was dropped in criminal proceedings.