By Sam Tobin
LONDON (Reuters) -Kevin Spacey described an allegation he grabbed a man’s crotch as “absolute bollocks” on Friday, in combative exchanges with prosecutors at the Oscar-winning actor’s sexual assault trial.
Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty at London’s Southwark Crown Court to 12 charges of sexual offences allegedly committed against four men in Britain between 2001 and 2013.
The offences allegedly took place at a time when he was mainly living and working in Britain, including from 2003 as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.
The four accusers have said Spacey aggressively groped them and, in the case of one complainant, performed oral sex on him while he was passed out in Spacey’s flat, which Spacey said was “completely wrong and upsetting”.
The two-time Academy Award winner described the prosecution case as “weak” as he was questioned on Friday by prosecutor Christine Agnew, who called him “a big sexual bully”.
Agnew suggested to Spacey that grabbing men by the crotch was “your MO, this is your trademark and this is what you do”. He replied: “I disagree with you.”
The prosecutor said Spacey was at the time “the golden boy of the London theatre scene”, meaning accusers were unlikely to come forward because of his power and influence.
Spacey said he was influential but that he used his influence “to help others, to create art, to try and bring the Old Vic back to its magical days”.
He added that he did not have “a power wand I waved in front of people’s faces” that made them want to have sex with him.
“I respect when people tell me they are not interested and that’s what I’ve done my whole life,” he said.
Spacey thanked the jury and then the judge as he concluded his evidence and returned to the dock.
‘ABSOLUTE BOLLOCKS’
Agnew earlier asked Spacey about a complainant who alleges Spacey painfully grabbed his crotch like “a cobra” in the mid-2000s.
Spacey said the man had “made up his entire story from beginning to end”.
He also described the allegation as “absolute bollocks”, using a British slang term for testicles and for something which is untrue.
Agnew replied: “Yep – because that’s exactly where you did grab him, isn’t it?”
Spacey asked: “Did he accuse me of grabbing his bollocks?” He then said: “I didn’t.”
The American actor was also asked why he thought the accuser was making up his allegations. Spacey replied: “Money, money and then money.”
He said he was “an affectionate person”, adding: “I, at times, was promiscuous and I had casual, indiscriminate sexual encounters.”
The actor was asked about one of the four complainants, who alleges Spacey gave him an “awkward” hug, kissing his neck and then grabbed his crotch, after he went with friends to where Spacey was staying near Oxford in central England.
Spacey has admitted making a “clumsy pass” at the man, but denied sexually assaulting him.
“I definitely misread the signs that I thought (the man) was sending, I accept that,” Spacey said on Friday, adding that his contact with the man was just “a gentle touch”.
Spacey described his encounters with two of the other complainants as “consensual interactions”, adding: “If they went further than they wanted, they didn’t tell me.”
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Mark Heinrich)
