Kevin Spacey told a court he did not have a “power wand” to get people to go to bed with him as he was accused of being a “sexual bully” during fiery exchanges in court.
The Hollywood actor, 63, was giving evidence for a second day at Southwark Crown Court, where he is on trial accused of 12 offences, including sexual assault and indecent assault, against four men between 2001 and 2013. He denies all of the charges.
Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC suggested the double Oscar winner, while he was artistic director at The Old Vic between 2004 and 2015, was “the golden boy of the London theatre scene”.
She said his “power and fame” would deter his alleged victims from speaking out “because of who he was” and that if they did would be unlikely to be “believed”.
But Spacey – known for his roles in House Of Cards, American Beauty and The Usual Suspects – said he had only 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.”
He added: “I 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.”
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Ms Agnew also suggested to Spacey that he was not “just a big flirt”, as he had earlier claimed in his evidence, but rather a “big sexual bully”. He denied the claim but said: “Yes, that’s your term.”
Spacey, wearing a dark blue suit, pale shirt and dark tie, sat at a desk while giving evidence, revealing his colourful socks, and occasionally put on his glasses to look at documents.
He admitted hiring private investigators in relation to at least three of the four men he allegedly assaulted.
During a series of fiery exchanges with the prosecutor, Spacey labelled the case against him “weak” and accused one alleged victim of being after “money, money and then money”.
‘Absolute b******s’
Asked about an allegation he grabbed the man’s genitals “like a cobra”, Spacey described the claim as: “Absolute b******s,” prompting Ms Agnew to reply: “Because that’s exactly where you did grab him, isn’t it?”
Spacey turned to the judge to ask: “Really?” before denying the claim.
He admitted he felt “lonely” at times after becoming famous and said he had reached out to people to “ease that burden” – prompting laughter from the public gallery, when he told the jury: “Welcome to life.”
Spacey said he could have had sex “all the time” but found it hard to trust people because of his fame.
He denied a “crotch grab” – an allegation made by three of the four complainants – was his “trademark”, adding: “Let me put it this way, it is the term ‘grabbing a crotch’ or ‘groping a crotch’ that I object to.”
