Kevin Spacey Trial Defense Day 2 Takes Place At Southwark Crown Court
Kevin Spacey has hit back at the man who accused him of grabbing his crotch “like a cobra” by saying he has “made up his entire story from beginning to end,” while branding the case for the prosecution “weak.”
Taking to the witness stand for the second day of his defense, Spacey suggested that the complainant lied in accusations against him for “money, money and then money.”
The Oscar-winning actor is alleged to have grabbed another man’s crotch “like a cobra” after meeting him at a West End theater in the mid-2000s following an alleged “barrage of vile comments.”
Spacey said on Friday: “I do not accept a single word that comes out of his mouth.”
Asked why the complainant would be lying, Spacey said: “Money, money and then money,” adding: “And I also believe he has for whatever reason, anger towards me.”
“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.
Spacey was questioned by the lawyer for the prosecution, Christina Agnew KC, who first asked the two-time Oscar winner whether the “crotch grab” was something that he would “normally do to someone you had met for the first time.”
Spacey replied: “No.” Questioned on whether it was something he had done before that had worked, and that he considered it a “trademark,” Spacey replied: “No.
“Let me put it this way, it is the term ‘grabbing a crotch’ or ‘groping a crotch’ that I object to,” he added.
When Agnew asked Spacey whether he considered a crotch grab to be an “appropriate” first move, the actor replied: “That’s generally not a first move.”
Spacey told jurors at Southwark Crown Court this morning that he is an “affectionate person” and agreed that he might give someone a hug after making a “first move.”
Questioned on what “moves” would be appropriate, the Hollywood actor said: “Every encounter that we have as humans, that I have had, is unique. The circumstance is unique, the person is unique, and how we have interacted is unique.
“I can’t give you a sort of rundown of what always happens, it’s always different.”
“Definitely misread” the signs
Responding to the suggestion that he might have “ignored” signs from the four complainants, Spacey said he “definitely misread” signs from one complainant who rejected an alleged sexual grab at an expensive property he was staying at in the Cotswolds in the early 2010s.
The actor added that he had “consensual interactions” with two other complainants – one who drove him to a lavish showbiz party in the early 2000s and an aspiring actor who claimed Spacey had “drugged” him before waking up to find the defendant performing a sex act on him.
Responding to prosecution accusations that the “truth” is he “sexually assaulted” the latter complainant man, Spacey said: “I have denied that.”
He called the allegations “completely wrong and upsetting” and also denied trying to prevent the complainant from telling anyone about what allegedly transpired between them.
Referring to the complainant who alleged Spacey grabbed his crotch “like a cobra” after meeting him at a West End theater in the mid-2000s, the actor said: “He has made up his entire story from beginning to end.”
“Have you found that due to your status and position, people normally did what you wanted them to do?,” Agnew then asked Spacey, which he denied.
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.”
Spacey added that he did not have a “power wand” that he used to get people to go to bed with him.
Asked if he agrees whether he is a powerful man, the star told the court: “I would agree that I have used the position that I gratefully found myself in to help others to create art, to try to bring the Old Vic back to its magical days. That is what used my power (for).”
He said he was “attracted to masculine men” but when asked about whether he was attracted to straight men, Spacey replied: “How would I know if they were straight or not?
“I can certainly tell you that there have been men in my life who said they were straight who I ended up having a sexual experience with. I don’t know if someone is gay or straight by looking at them.”
Continuing to give evidence during the cross-examination, Spacey claimed he was a “very fortunate actor who got some very remarkable film roles.”
Agnew said: “You received two Oscars by the time you were in the UK?”
Spacey replied: “Yes.”
The 63-year-old told the jury he had received “a lot of letters from people who wanted to reach out to me,” adding that many were “lovely” and “intelligently written.”
“I always believed in supporting emerging talents… because I was the recipient of it when I was starting out,” he added.
Yesterday, questioned by his lawyer, Spacey said a relationship with one of his alleged victims was “somewhat intimate” but firmly denied various accusations including that he drugged the aspiring actor and performed a sex act on him while he was asleep, saying that the behavior “makes no logical sense.”
Today, Agnew suggested that the complainant was asleep but Spacey shot back: “That’s your theory,”
“Well that is the prosecution case,” Agnew said.
Spacey replied: “And it’s a weak one.”
The jury also heard earlier this week how Spacey told police he was “baffled” and “deeply hurt” by accusations of sexual assault but admitted he could have made a “clumsy pass” at one of his accusers, the court heard earlier this week.
In January, Spacey pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent. The two-time Academy Award winner also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
He was granted unconditional bail before the trial began. The trial continues.
Source: Deadline
