Kevin Spacey told man to ‘be cool’ as he kissed neck and grabbed him, court hears
Kevin Spacey told a man he met in a pub to “be cool, be cool” as he kissed his neck and grabbed his crotch just hours after meeting him, a court has heard.
The alleged victim told police officers that when he moved Spacey away, saying he “did not bat for that team”, the Hollywood actor appeared “panicked”.
Jurors heard evidence from the man’s police interview at Southwark Crown Court today ahead of the complainant giving evidence to the court on Wednesday. He will be the second accuser to answer questions during the trial.
Spacey, 63, is facing 12 sexual offence charges in relation to four men which allegedly took place between 2001 and 2013, all of which he vehemently denies.
Read more: Kevin Spacey trial – as it happens in court
An artist’s sketch of Kevin Spacey in court earlier in the trial. Pic: Elizabeth Cook/PA
In the second accuser’s police interview, the man said he met Spacey at a countryside pub and was later invited, with others, back to a property at which the actor was staying.
Here, he accidentally let Spacey’s dog out of a room, the court heard, and it was this that preceded the alleged sexual assault.
Accuser says Spacey looked ‘panicked’ when he moved him away
After telling the police officer conducting the interview that he apologised to the actor for the dog momentarily escaping, the complainant said: “At which point he came towards me in a huggy motion and said ‘don’t worry about it, it is cool, it is cool’.
“We did an awkward man hug as I call it – he hugged me, I did a sort of pat on the back type of thing. At that point he kissed my neck twice and grabbed my crotch. He said the words, ‘be cool, be cool’, twice.”
The man then told the officer that he put his arm between them to move Spacey away. “I said, ‘I am sorry man, I don’t bat for that team’,” the complainant said in his interview.
The alleged victim said that after he rejected Spacey, the star had an “immediate panicked look on his face” before he left the room.
The complainant told police he swiftly left the property and called his father to pick him up, becoming “teary”.
Asked how he felt about the alleged incident, he said it “shook” him and that it was “unwanted”. He added that he has since “stopped ever watching or purchasing anything [Spacey] had ever been involved in”.
However, “the next morning I… got on with things”, he told the officer.
Alleged incident became a ‘joke’ – which ‘helped’
The man said he became “quite open” with people about the alleged incident and began to feel that while it was an “aggressive come-on”, he had not been “harmed”.
He told the police officer that over time the alleged incident became more of an “anecdote” and a “running joke” among friends – that it was joked his “claim to fame” was that “the same hand that held an Oscar” had grabbed his crotch, the court heard.
The accuser told the officer that treating it in this way “helped”.
He also gave details of the events leading up to the alleged incident, saying Spacey had been drinking double Jack Daniels and Coke before driving about six people to the property he was staying at.
At the start of the interview, the man told the officer that he eventually called the non-emergency police number when he saw other allegations come out against Spacey in the news.
The charges against Spacey
On Tuesday, the court also heard evidence from the brother and two former partners of the first alleged victim, who all told jurors that the complainant had told them about alleged sexual assaults by Spacey, and said any such incidents would not have been consensual.
Spacey pleaded not guilty in July 2022 to four charges of sexual assault and one of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
In January this year, he pleaded not guilty to seven further charges – three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
The trial continues – and jurors will hear from the second alleged victim tomorrow.
Kanye West’s Yeezy online shopping platform has been taken down after selling T-shirts featuring a swastika.
The rapper, also known as Ye, used a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday to send people to his website to buy the clothing emblazoned with the Nazi symbol – an image often used by the extreme-right.
The ecommerce platform Shopify, which hosts many online shops and businesses, has deactivated his site and his domain name yeez.com is being sold for $98,999 (£79,692).
Shopify said in an emailed statement to Sky News’ sister channel NBC News: “All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms so we removed them from Shopify.”
West’s representative is yet to respond to a request from NBC for comment.
The white T-shirts featured a black swastika on the front and were the only items for sale on the front page of yeezy.com.
No text or explanation accompanied the item, just the letters “HH-01.” They were available for $20 (£16).
Initially, West’s site showed a notice from Shopify which said the store was “unavailable”.
yeez.com was taken offline by Shopify, the e-commerce platform which was hosting his shop
But the site now redirects to the registrar GoDaddy, the platform which manages yeez.com, where a page shows the domain name is for sale.
GoDaddy has not yet responded to questions about the sale and whether it was enforced by the company or initiated by West.
The domain name yeez.com can be bought for $98,999 (£79,692)
The decision to sell the T-shirt triggered widespread criticism, including from the Anti-Defamation League (ADF) which posted a statement on X on Monday, describing the shirt sales as further proof of West’s antisemitism.
The organisation, formed to combat anti-Jewish bigotry and discrimination, explained that the swastika was adopted by Hitler and “continues to threaten and instil fear in those targeted by antisemitism and white supremacy”.
The ADF also said the T-shirt was labelled on Kanye’s website as ‘HH-01’ – suggesting this was code for “Heil Hitler”.
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West has in recent days been posting antisemitic messages on X, as well as writing “I love Hitler” and “I’m a Nazi”. His account then had a “sensitive content warning” added to it before he posted a final message.
“I’m logging out of Twitter,” he wrote. “I appreciate [X owner] Elon [Musk] for allowing me to vent.”
After his account was deactivated on Monday, his spokesperson Milo Yiannopoulos issued an explanation.
“Ye is an intergenerational artist and icon who continues to redefine the limits of creativity and free expression. He has deactivated his X account for the time being,” he said in a statement.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism was joined by Friends star David Schwimmer in calling for Elon Musk to remove West from X over a string of offensive posts.
One of the most successful figures in hop-hip, West built up a fashion brand called Yeezy which began as a collaboration with Adidas. But the German sportswear giant cut ties with him in 2022 over his antisemitic remarks and eventually reached a settlement in October.
A pilot has died after a private jet owned by Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil crashed into another plane at an airport in Arizona.
Neil was not on board at the time of the collision, which happened off the runway at Scottsdale Airport on Monday afternoon.
Neil’s girlfriend Rain Andreani and her friend suffered injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening.
They were taken to hospital with the jet’s co-pilot, who was also injured.
Emergency responders work on Vince Neil’s plane after the collision. Pic: AP
“While details are still emerging, our hearts go out to the families of both the pilot who lost his life and the passengers who suffered injuries,” Motley Crue said in a statement.
“Motley Crue will announce a way to help support the family of the deceased pilot – stand by for an announcement very soon”.
Rain Andreani broke five ribs in the crash and the dogs the women were travelling with survived, TMZ reports.
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Pic: AP
Neil’s jet was arriving from Austin, Texas, when one of its two sets of landing gears failed.
The Learjet veered off the runway after landing and crashed into a Gulfstream 200 business jet.
Neil’s lawyer said the singer is “grateful for the critical aid of all first responders assisting today”.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the incident was under investigation.
Motley Crue enjoyed major success throughout the 1980s, selling more than 100 million records.
Vince Neil fronted the rock band from their formation in 1981 until he left in 1992.
He later reunited with the band in 1996 and fronted them until they retired in 2015, and again from the band’s 2018 reunion onwards.
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