Kevin Spacey has been cleared of sexual assault charges in a London trial.
The actor was acquitted of all nine charges at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday (July 26), including 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.
As reported by Reuters, Spacey began to cry when the verdict was returned by the jury, before he thanked court staff.
During the four-week trial, Spacey was accused of sexual offences against four men, alleged to have taken place between 2001 and 2013. He was accused of performing a sex act on a former aspiring actor while he slept, and of several other assaults – including grabbing a driver’s crotch during a car ride to a celebrity party outside London.
Ahead of the trial, Spacey denied all the charges and described the prosecution’s case against him as “weak”.
In court, the actor said he had been “open” about times he had been “promiscuous”, saying: “It doesn’t make me a bad person.”
During his closing speech, Spacey’s defence barrister, Patrick Gibbs KC, accused three of the four men of lying “for reasons which, ultimately, will only ever be known to themselves”, while suggesting the fourth was intoxicated.
“It’s not a crime to like sex, even if you’re famous and it’s not a crime to have sex, even if you’re famous, and it’s not a crime to have casual sex,” Gibbs told jurors. “And it’s not a crime to have sex with someone of the same sex because it’s 2023 not 1823.”
Last month, the actor said he is ready to make a comeback if cleared of the charges.
“It’s a time in which a lot of people are very afraid that if they support me, they will be cancelled,” he said while speaking with Zeitmagazin.
“But I know that there are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London. The second that happens, they’re ready to move forward.”
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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