Actor Kevin Spacey addresses the media outside Southwark Crown Court in London, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. Photo / AP
Actor Kevin Spacey addresses the media outside Southwark Crown Court in London, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. Photo / AP
Kevin Spacey, the Oscar-winning actor, has denied new allegations of inappropriate behaviour from men featured in a documentary titled, Spacey Unmasked, on British television that was released this week.
In an online interview with journalist Dan Wootton, Spacey said he has never done anything illegal and admitted that he has struggled to get back to work after being acquitted last year of criminal charges in a London court.
“I can’t go through this again, allowing myself to be baselessly attacked without defending myself,” he said in the interview entitled “Kevin Spacey: Right Of Reply” which was aired late last Friday on Wootton’s YouTube channel.
Last July, a London jury acquitted Spacey on sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years. The court victory was his second since he saw off a US$40 million ($66.6m) lawsuit in 2022 in New York brought by Star Trek: Discovery actor Anthony Rapp.
A court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook shows the moment actor Kevin Spacey chokes up during his testimony. Photo / AP
The documentary is said to feature testimony from men regarding events between 1976 and 2013, the actor revealed during the interview.
“I take full responsibility for my past behaviour and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologise to anyone who’s made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me,” said Spacey, who won Academy Awards for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty.
“I’ve never told someone that if they give me sexual favours, then I will help them out with their career, never,” he added.
Spacey, who served as artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London from 2004 to 2015, again admitted that he was a “flirt” with men in their 20s and that he made “clumsy” passes at times.
“I’ve clearly hooked up with some men, who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me,” he said. “But there was no conversation with me, it was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail, because I wasn’t in on the deal.”
A jury cleared Kevin Spacey on sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years. Photo / AP
The actor also claimed on X, formerly Twitter, that he had “repeatedly requested” that Channel 4 give him more than seven days to respond to the allegations made about him in their documentary.
Spacey said the broadcaster refused “on the basis that they feel that asking for a response in 7 days to new, anonymised and non-specific allegations is a ‘fair opportunity’ for me to refute any allegations made against me”.
“Each time I have been given the time and a proper forum to defend myself, the allegations have failed under scrutiny and I have been exonerated.”
Spacey said he has struggled to get back to work after being acquitted of all criminal charges, describing his experience as a “life sentence”.
His acting career has been adversely affected since 2017 when he was first publicly accused of inappropriate behaviour at the beginning of the #MeToo movement. He then lost his lead role as Frank Underwood in the Netflix drama House of Cards.
