Disgraced star Kevin Spacey finally took the witness stand to testify in his London sexual assault case.
For two days, on Thursday and Friday, the two-time Academy Award Winner gave evidence to try and help prove he is innocent of the 12 charges, that include sexual assault and indecent assault, against four men in their 20s and 30s, between 2001 and 2013.
On the first day, questioned by his own attorney, Spacey played the sympathy card, dwelling on the very real repercussions of the sex allegations against him.
The Guardian reported:
“Kevin Spacey broke down in tears on Thursday as he said his ‘world exploded’ when sexual abuse allegations against him first emerged in 2017, saying: ‘I lost everything’.”
He told jurors how his acting work dried up, and his fortune shrank because of hefty legal bills.
“Wiping away tears, the Hollywood star told Southwark crown court: ‘There was a rush to judgment, and before the first question was asked or answered I lost my job, I lost my reputation, I lost everything in a matter of days’.”
His lawyer, Patrick Gibbs, asked about the 2017 BuzzFeed article featuring allegations by actor Anthony Rapp, accusing Spacey of an unwanted sexual advance – an allegation found ‘not proven’ in civil court last October.
“’With a few exceptions over the last five, six years, I have not been able to work’, he said. ‘I’ve had no money coming in and I’ve had a lot of legal bills and things to fight against, and I haven’t paid it all off so I still owe money’.”
One of the accusers, who cannot be named under UK legislation, claimed to have been driving when Spacey grabbed his penis with such force that he almost crashed.
Spacey denied assaulting the man: ‘No, I was not on a suicide mission in any of those years’.
“Responding to the allegations made by the complainant, Spacey told jurors: ‘I’m a flirt, I’m a big flirt’. He described the man as ‘charming and funny’ before adding: ‘Slowly over time [the relationship] became somewhat sexual but we never had sex together because he made it clear he didn’t want to go any further, and that happens at times, and you respect how far someone wants to go or not go’.”
Kevin Spacey also commented his coming out as gay in response to Rapp’s accusations.
Variety reported:
“’Members of the LGBTQ+ community were upset because I came out while I was responding to an accusation and now I understand why it was read that way’, Spacey told a court in London, U.K. ‘It wasn’t how I intended it’.
[…] ‘I was under a lot of pressure that I had to say something. That it would be a PR nightmare if I didn’t’.”
His lawyer, Gibbs, asked whether he had once been a rich man, to which Spacey replied:
“’I was very fortunate in the career I had’.
‘Are you a rich man now?’ asked Gibbs.
Citing his lack of income and large legal bills, Spacey simply replied: ‘No’.”
On Friday Kevin Spacey took to the witness stand for the second day, this time to be cross-examined by the prosecution.
About one of his accusers’ allegation that he grabbed his crotch ‘like a cobra’ following an alleged ‘barrage of vile comments’, he said:
‘I do not accept a single word that comes out of his mouth’.
Asked why the men would be lying, Spacey replied: ‘Money, money and then money’.
Deadline reported:
“’I mean, maybe I wasn’t as lovely to him as he would have hoped if we met on that day and maybe he was upset about other things with respect to my sexuality’, added Spacey.”
Besides calling the allegations ‘completely wrong and upsetting’, he also denied trying to prevent the man from telling anyone about what happened.
“[Prosecutor] Agnew went on: ‘You didn’t find it easier to pick up people because of who you are?’
Spacey answered: ‘I found it harder to trust people because of who I was.’
After the prosecutor asked the same question again, the actor responded: ‘I am sure if I wanted to I could have had sex all the time, but I didn’t’.”
More of the cross examination delved into whether Spacey had the power to bully and forcibly seduce young men.
BBC reported:
“Asked if he considered himself to be a powerful man, Mr. Spacey told the jury he ‘did not have a power wand that I waved in front of people’s faces whenever I wanted someone to go to bed with me’.”
He denied that aggressively grabbing men’s crotches was a ‘trademark’ move of his, and also that he would have drugged an aspiring actor to perform oral sex on him while he was asleep in his flat.
“He did not fall asleep and I did not perform [a sex act] on him while he was asleep, despite what he has shockingly accused me of.”
Prosecutor Agnew insisted that the complainant was asleep, to which Spacey responded that that was her ‘theory’.
“‘Well that is the prosecution case’, the prosecutor said.
Mr. Spacey replied: ‘And it’s a weak one’.”
This story originally appeared on TheGateWayPundit
