Kevin Spacey accused of being ‘sexual bully’ who got ‘sexual gratification’ from victims’ discomfort, court told
The prosecution has opened its case in the Kevin Spacey trial with claims the actor was a “sexual bully” who “delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable”, and whose “preferred method of assault” was to “grab” other men “aggressively in the crotch”.
Spacey is in court in the UK on 12 charges – including three of indecent assault and seven of sexual assault – in relation to four men.
Read more: Kevin Spacey trial – as it happened
In a short session lasting just an hour-and-a-half, prosecutor Christine Agnew described the allegations of four men who claim to have been sexually assaulted by the actor.
The 63-year-old star – who was present in court – was described by Ms Agnew as “a famous actor who has won a number of awards,” and by one of his alleged victims as “a star, a golden boy”.
The two-time Oscar winner is known for roles in productions such as House of Cards, American Beauty and The Usual Suspects.
The relevance of Spacey’s fame was flagged early on, with the prosecution warning the jury not to become “star struck” or “overwhelmed,” while the defence said the trial would offer “insights into both sides of fame”, including “the way people act towards you” when you are famous.
The court also heard from the statements of the four victims – none of whom are known to one another according to the prosecution – and who will remain anonymous in coverage of the case.
Ms Agnew said: “None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way, but he doesn’t seem to have cared very much for their feelings.
“He did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification.”
‘Getting angry simply turned him on’
The first alleged victim, who worked with Spacey in the early 2000s in London, said the actor touched him inappropriately on numerous occasions and at one point “grabbed him so hard” while he was driving that he nearly drove off the road.
He said he asked Spacey on numerous occasions not to touch him, but added Spacey laughed at his request, and he believed “his getting angry simply turned him on”.
He said Spacey seemed “confident” he wouldn’t tell anyone about the alleged assaults.
The alleged victim added he thinks that could have been due to his reputation as a “worldwide star,” or possibly considering he would be “too embarrassed, too ashamed” to make a complaint.
The second alleged victim, who met Spacey at a charity event in London in 2005, said Spacey made many inappropriate comments and said sexual things to him out of the earshot of others, before allegedly grabbing his penis with “such force it was painful”.
The alleged victim said he told a friend about it around a week later, but told no one else.
Claims of unwanted sex act, advances and groping
The third alleged victim, who said he successfully auditioned for a show being put on at the Old Vic Theatre and later approached Spacey as a mentor, described going for a drink at his flat.
He said he woke up to find Spacey allegedly carrying out an unwanted act of oral sex.
He said Spacey told him not to mention what had happened or that he had been to his flat, and added he left in shock, later crying at a bus stop.
The fourth alleged victim, who met Spacey in a village pub in late 2017 when the actor came in with his dog, said that after inviting him and a friend back to the expensive house in which he was staying, Spacey kissed his neck and grabbed his crotch.
He said he left the house in “a panicky state” and called his father to tell him what had happened.
The men were all in their 20s to early 30s when the alleged assaults took place and all the alleged incidents are said to have happened between 2001 and 2013 – a time when Spacey was working and living mainly in the UK.
Prosecution: Spacey ‘took what and who he wanted’
The prosecution said Spacey would claim some of the allegations were “made up” and that others were “consensual”.
She also told the jury it would be their job to decide whether the alleged victims were either “courageous” in coming forward now, or “lying” in order to benefit financially.
Ms Agnew concluded: “Kevin Spacey Fowler abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him; taking advantage of his popularity and prominence, his illustriousness and influence.
“Taking what and who he wanted when he wanted.”
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What is Kevin Spacey accused of?
Defence warns jury to expect ‘damned lies’
Meanwhile, in a brief statement, the defence – led by Patrick Gibbs – said Spacey had returned to the UK to answer the allegations against him, and “say in full in due course what actually happened”.
He warned the jury they would hear “some truths,” “some half-truths,” “some deliberate exaggerations” and “many damned lies” during evidence.
Spacey is facing 12 charges – all of which he denies.
They are: four counts of sexual assault; three counts of indecent assault; three counts of sexual assault; one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and one of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity.
This last charge is the most serious, and carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The case will continue at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Monday, with the full trial set to last around four weeks.
Spacey has been granted unconditional bail.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has said CCTV footage showing him attacking singer Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016 is “inexcusable” and that he is “disgusted”.
Warning: This story includes images readers may find distressing
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” the rapper said in a video on Instagram.
“I was f***** up – I mean I hit rock bottom – but l make no excuses. My behaviour on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.
“I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry. But I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
Pic: CNN via AP
Pic: CNN via AP
The 54-year-old, whose homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security Investigations agents in March, has faced a series of public allegations of physical and sexual violence.
Footage obtained by CNN this week shows Combs – also known as P Diddy and Puff Daddy – wearing only a white towel as he punches and kicks Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway on 5 March 2016.
The footage also shows Combs shoving and dragging the singer and throwing a vase in her direction.
Pic: CNN via AP
Cassie, an R&B singer whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, was his protege and girlfriend at the time.
The 37-year-old sued Combs in November with the lawsuit accusing him of rape and violent behaviour during their decade-long relationship.
The suit was settled the next day, but it led to intense scrutiny of Combs, who has since been named as a defendant in several sexual abuse lawsuits, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to the raid in March.
Sean Combs and Cassie in 2017. Pic: PA
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Diddy’s homes raided
He denied the allegations in the lawsuits, but neither he nor his representatives had responded to the newly-emerged video until Sunday.
After the footage emerged, Douglas H Wigdor, lawyer for Ms Ventura, said in a statement in response: “The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behaviour of Mr Combs.
“Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”
Combs’ Instagram apology is the hip hop mogul’s most direct response after six months of allegations that have threatened his reputation and career.
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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Pic: AP
Previous statements have been released through his lawyers.
The security camera video, dated 5 March 2016, closely resembles the description of an incident at an InterContinental Hotel in the Century City area of Los Angeles described in Ms Ventura’s November lawsuit.
The suit alleges that Combs paid the hotel $50,000 (around £39,000) for the security video immediately after the incident.
Neither he nor his representatives have addressed that specific allegation.
CNN did not say how it obtained the footage.
Combs is not in danger of being criminally prosecuted for the beating.
The statutes of limitations for the assault and battery charges he would have been likely to face expired years ago.
US
Adam Boulton: ‘Like those old guys on The Muppets’ – bad sign for democracy as Trump and Biden call shots on how they will debate
That was easy. Donald Trump and Joe Biden duelled briefly over the airwaves about debating.
“Any time, any place, anywhere,” the Republican candidate had challenged. “Make my day, pal” the president retorted movie-style.
In just a matter of hours the two men agreed to Joe Biden‘s proposal for two televised presidential debates before the election on 5 November – at CNN HQ in Atlanta on 27 June and on ABC forum on 10 September.
There will be more role-playing between now and the agreed showdowns. Biden has already rejected Trump’s counter-offer of two further debates including one on Fox News.
But once again the US does seem on course to hold debates between the frontrunners for the White House, as it has in most of the presidential cycles since JFK took on Richard Nixon in 1960. The UK has only managed to hold proper equivalent prime ministerial leaders debates in 2010.
The two candidates will confront each other in different circumstances than previously. They will meet earlier in the cycle of the election year and without the usual rules.
Both sides have agreed to cold shoulder the widely respected Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), which had proposed three debates before mass audiences closer to polling day.
The Republicans and the Democrats have decided that the CPD model is outdated because of the changing nature of campaigning and voting, the evolving demands of the media and above all because of the unique nature of this campaign in which the two main candidates have become clear so early in the year and in which they are the oldest in America’s political history.
“It’ll be entertaining, informative. Like those two old guys on The Muppets,” former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney quipped to Huffpost.
Pic: Disney/Kobal/Shutterstock
The traditional CPD debates are one of the many norms of US politics which have been subverted by Donald Trump.
According to opinion polls held afterwards as to “who won the debate?”, he is a poor debater.
He “lost” all three of his encounters with Hillary Clinton in 2016 and both of his debates against Biden in 2020.
Biden also “won” both his vice presidential debates against Sarah Palin in 2008 and Paul Ryan in 2012.
Yet what is remembered is Trump’s behaviour. He roamed about the stage and loomed threatening behind Hillary Clinton.
He invited her husband’s alleged ex-girlfriends to sit in the front row of the audience.
He called Biden “demented” before their first debate and abused him to his face, saying: “There’s nothing smart about you Joe.”
Trump refused to abide by the rules and talked over the moderator and Biden.
A senior White House correspondent summed up their first presidential debate as “a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck”.
Trump refused to take the required COVID test to take part and then developed it, resulting in the cancellation of their next scheduled debate.
At their final debate, a technician was employed to switch off the participants’ microphones except during their allotted speaking time.
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Trump: ‘Biden can’t walk off a plane’
It is usually the underdog who issues the challenge to debate. Biden has been trailing narrowly in key opinion polls and needs the debates to demonstrate that he is still up to the job at the age of 81.
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Many observers think that the president is actually showing fewer signs of cognitive impairment than Trump, who is only four years younger and whose rally speeches are becoming increasingly incoherent rants.
When the two men debate this summer, Biden may well “beat” Trump again. But Trump’s antics could well dominate – and they certainly impress some voters.
The problems with the debates four years ago explain why neither side wants to put the commission in charge this time.
The Republicans have accused the CPD of bias and the Democrats blame it for not keeping order.
Significantly the first debate this year, on CNN, will be in a studio without a live audience for the first time in the US presidential history.
Both sides also wanted to have their encounters earlier in the summer because there is an increasing trend to vote earlier, with some states opening their polls as early as September.
Biden and Trump during a presidential debate in Nashville in 2020. Pic: Reuters
The agreed debates will be head-to-heads between Biden and Trump, which suits them both because Robert F Kennedy Jnr is working flat out to get on enough state ballots to qualify for a CPD debate.
Polling suggests he would take votes from each of them and could have a decisive impact on who wins.
President Biden gift wrapped his debate invitation with the cheeky tag “I hear you are free on Wednesdays” because the criminal court where Trump is currently on trial does not sit on Wednesdays.
The dates they’ve agreed are actually a Tuesday and a Thursday but the dig still stands.
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The first Biden-Trump debate in 2020 drew 71 million viewers in the US making it the third most-watched presidential debate behind only Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Ronald Reagan versus Jimmy Carter in 1980.
But average audiences for the debates are diminishing.
Nate Silver, a leading political statistician, points out they are one of the few fixed points in a campaign which can have some direct impact today when “almost nothing moves the polls these days because the candidates are so well known and everybody is so partisan”.
America’s news networks have found out that Trump drives up ratings, even when the station’s editorial policy opposes him.
CNN gave his rallies saturation coverage in 2016 and apologised more recently when Trump was allowed to monopolise a “town hall” on the channel.
Now the networks and their guest debaters have parted company with the protections provided by the CPD and its heavily regulated debates before live audiences on university campuses.
They will be under pressure to show they can provide fair and informative programmes for their viewers and not just entertainment.
The precedents for success are not good from the UK, where broadcasters abandoned working together following a rigid formula after 2010.
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By competing against each other they effectively gave the whip hand to the politicians, who were free to withdraw or bestow their favours.
Since then the subsequent debate-style election programmes have not made a significant informative or influential impact on the campaigns. The viewers, a.k.a the electorate, have lost out.
This year the two people vying to be the leader of the free world are calling the shots on how they will debate.
It is hardly encouraging for democracy that a senior senator like Mitt Romney’s first comparison is with The Muppet Show.
Lily Tomlin, Morgan Fairchild and Ben Stiller have led tributes to “one-of-a-kind” actor Dabney Coleman following his death aged 92.
Coleman made his career playing comedic villains, mean-spirited bosses and villains in films including 9 to 5 and Tootsie, as well as playing Commodore Louis Kaestner in Boardwalk Empire.
Lily Tomlin, who starred alongside him in 9 To 5 with Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton, said: “We just loved him.”
In her post to X, the actress shared a photo of her character Violet Newstead dressed in a Snow White costume beside a tense-looking Coleman as her egotistical boss Franklin Hart Jr.
Morgan Fairchild, who starred in Falcon Crest and Friends, described Coleman as a “great one”.
“So very sorry to hear of the death of the wonderful #DabneyColeman”, she wrote on X alongside a black and white photo of them together.
“We went out for a bit in the ’80s and I adored him. This town has lost one of a kind!”
Coleman “took his last earthly breath peacefully and exquisitely” in his Santa Monica home on Thursday, his daughter said in a statement on Friday on behalf of the family.
“My father crafted his time here on Earth with a curious mind, a generous heart and a soul on fire with passion, desire and humour that tickled the funny bone of humanity”, she said.
“As he lived, he moved through this final act of his life with elegance, excellence and mastery.”
Coleman in 1989. Pic: AP
Ben Stiller, Zoolander and Meet The Parents actor, praised Coleman for paving the way for character actors.
“The great Dabney Coleman literally created, or defined, really – in a uniquely singular way – an archetype as a character actor.
“He was so good at what he did it’s hard to imagine movies and television of the last 40 years without him.”
Coleman with Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda in 1980 Credit: Ralph Dominguez/MediaPunch/IPX
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Coleman starred in a number of films and TV series in the 1960s, then made his breakthrough as a corrupt mayor in the satirical soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, in 1976.
His film credits include a computer scientist in WarGames, Tom Hanks’ father in You’ve Got Mail and a chief firefighter in The Towering Inferno.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He won a best actor Golden Globe for The Slap Maxwell Story and an Emmy for best supporting actor in Peter Levin’s 1987 legal drama Sworn To Silence.
Coleman also won two Screen Actors Guild Awards as part of the cast of crime drama Boardwalk Empire and received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for his starring role in the NBC sitcom Buffalo Bill.
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