After a four-week trial in London, actor Kevin Spacey has been cleared of all charges in his court battle regarding allegations of sexual assault from four separate men, which took place between 2004 and 2013.
The Oscar-winning actor best known for his roles in films like The Usual Suspects and American Beauty, as well as his Netflix show, House of Cards, has been cleared of all charges in a UK courtroom today. Kevin Spacey was indicted on nine charges—seven counts of sexual assault and two counts of other serious sexual offences—of which he pleaded not guilty to all counts. After a four-week trial in London, the jury cleared the 64-year-old actor after twelve hours and twenty-six minutes of deliberation across three days.
The period in which the allegations took place was when Spacey served as artistic director at the Old Vic Theater in London, with accusations he had physically grabbed and groped three of the men, while the fourth stated Spacey had drugged them, waking up to Spacey performing a sexual act on them. Spacey told the court that the two had shared “a consensual, a very nice and lovely evening.”
In a brief statement to reporters outside the court, Kevin Spacey stated: “I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what has just happened today. But I would like to say that I’m enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision. And I am humbled by the outcome today.”
Kevin Spacey was also previously accused of sexual misconduct by fellow actor Anthony Rapp in 2017 (for an offence that was alleged to have taken place in 1986 when Rapp was only 14 years old and the pair played on Broadway together), which led to him being fired from House of Cards. The civil lawsuit sought $40 million in damages, but the jury found he wasn’t liable in that case.
Additionally, Spacey has faced charges in Massachusetts that he groped a man at a bar (which were later dropped by prosecutors) and was forced to pay $30.9 million to the makers of House of Cards for violating his contract by sexually harassing crew members.
