Kevin Spacey trial: Aspiring actor ‘woke to find Hollywood star performing sex act on him’, court hears
A former aspiring actor has told a court he believes he was drugged by “vile sexual predator” Kevin Spacey before he allegedly woke to find the Hollywood star performing a sex act on him at his London flat.
The man – the last of four complainants to give evidence against the double-Oscar winner during a trial at Southwark Crown Court in London – became emotional as he recalled the alleged offence in a police interview played to jurors, and later answered questions under cross-examination from behind a screen in court.
The alleged victim said that before he fell asleep, Spacey “circled like a shark” – and described the alleged attack as “completely traumatic and life-ruining”.
Later, responding to defence lawyer Patrick Gibbs KC’s questions about the complainant’s sexuality and whether he was confused about what happened, he called the questioning “reprehensible”.
“I was taken advantage of, I believe drugged, sexually assaulted,” the man told the court.
Spacey, 63, denies 12 sexual offence charges – including one charge of sexual assault and one charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity, in relation to the fourth complainant.
Read more: Latest developments from court as they happened
A court sketch of Spacey in the dock. Pic: PA/Elizabeth Cook
Jurors heard how the aspiring actor wrote to the Hollywood star asking for mentorship and was “dumbstruck” to receive a call a few weeks later suggesting they meet later that evening.
He had been told the American Beauty and The Usual Suspects actor liked “young, straight men” but did not know at this point that “he was a predator”, jurors heard.
In his police interview, the man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – said the Hollywood star made him feel “weirdly special” by asking him to meet for a beer. The alleged victim was “starstruck” and did not question his intentions, the court heard.
Giving details of the night of the alleged sexual offence, the complainant said he met Spacey in London at about 11pm and that they walked for about 10 minutes before the actor invited him into his flat.
The man told the officer he drank a couple of beers and smoked part of a joint with Spacey. At some point, the House Of Cards star went to hug the man as they sat on the sofa in the living room area, and then rubbed his face into the complainant’s crotch, jurors heard.
The alleged victim said he remembered looking at the “bald patch” on the back of Spacey’s head and thinking what was happening was “one of the strangest moments of my life” – and something he would “never forget”.
Alleged victim ‘conked out’
The man told police he was “very nervous” and felt “vulnerable” during the alleged incident but he did not leave at this point.
He questioned his own behaviour, whether he was being a “d***head” and if this was just how some people behaved in the “theatre world”, jurors heard from his police interview.
He also did not want to “annoy” Spacey, the court was told.
“You just don’t want to annoy someone who is that powerful in the business you are trying to break in to,” the man told the police officer. “The social sway he had was massive.”
After about an hour at the flat, things started to become “hazy” and he “conked out”, the man told the officer, saying this was “unusual”.
When he woke a few hours later, Spacey was kneeling on the floor, performing a sex act on him, it was alleged.
“Going to sleep isn’t something I would normally do – it is unusual in my behaviour just to conk out,” the complainant told the officer.
“I remember four to five hours later waking up – my belt was still together but my button and my zip were down and he’s just performed [a sex act] on me.”
Spacey ‘incredibly dismissive’
The alleged victim said he told Spacey “no” and “pushed” him off.
“My belt was still together but the rest of it was undone,” he told the officer about his trousers. He was “massively in shock”, the court heard.
Spacey then said it was “best” that he left and told him not to tell anyone, the man claimed.
Becoming emotional in his police interview, the man said he did not know how long the alleged sex offence went on for or exactly what happened while he was asleep.
Spacey was “incredibly dismissive” afterwards, he added.
The complainant said he later “completely buried” the alleged incident. Asked by the officer whether he thought about reporting it to police before he eventually did, he said he feared this could have affected his acting career, and that he might have been “slammed” by a “hotshot” lawyer of Spacey’s.
“It’s David and Goliath,” he told the police officer.
The man added that while “your gut tells you” that you are not “unique” and there might have been others, he did not have the “confidence” to come forward.
The alleged victim said he eventually found the confidence to report the incident when allegations were first made about the now disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017.
‘Nothing happened that was consensual’
Under cross-examination from Spacey’s lawyer in court, the complainant answered questions about phone calls on the night of the alleged sexual offence. He denied a call after midnight, lasting 19 seconds, was Spacey calling him after he left the flat – earlier than his account of how long he was there on the night.
Mr Gibbs put it to the alleged victim that he had “upped and left” without any proper explanation after “intimate contact” between the pair.
The man denied this. “Nothing happened that was consensual”, he said.
Mr Gibbs later asked if the complainant questioned his sexuality after the alleged incident with the Hollywood actor. He denied this but said the incident had been a “confusing thing to come to terms with”.
Asked about his sexuality and if his way of processing a consensual act might have been to say it happened when he was asleep, the alleged victim said he found the line of questioning “reprehensible”.
Mr Gibbs then asked what the complainant would think of someone who engaged in a sexual act with someone solely in the “hope of advancing their career”. The man said this would be “abhorrent”.
He told the court that if he was attracted to men he would be happy to explore this, but he isn’t. “The only time I have experienced something sexual with a man is when I was sexually assaulted by that vile sexual predator,” the man said.
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.
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Joy star James Norton on the ‘postcode lottery’ of IVF – and playing the scientist who was part of creating the first ‘test-tube baby’
Actor James Norton, who stars in a new film telling the story of the world’s first “test-tube baby”, has criticised how “prohibitively expensive” IVF can be in the UK.
In Joy, the star portrays the real-life scientist Bob Edwards, who – along with obstetrician Patrick Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy – spent a decade tirelessly working on medical ways to help infertility.
The film charts the 10 years leading up to the birth of Louise Joy Brown, who was dubbed the world’s first test-tube baby, in 1978.
In the UK, statistics show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade
Norton, who is best known for playing Tommy Lee Royce in the BAFTA-winning series Happy Valley, told Sky News he has friends who were IVF babies and other friends who have had their own children thanks to the fertility treatment.
“But I didn’t know about these three scientists and their sacrifice, tenacity and skill,” he said. The star hopes the film will be “a catalyst for conversation” about the treatment and its availability.
“We know for a fact that Jean, Bob and Patrick would not have liked the fact that IVF is now so means based,” he said. “It’s prohibitively expensive for some… and there is a postcode lottery which means that some people are precluded from that opportunity.”
Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie and James Norton star in Joy. All pics: Netflix/ Kerry Brown
Now, IVF is considered a wonder of modern medicine. More than 12 million people owe their existence today to the treatment Edwards, Steptoe and Purdy worked so hard to devise.
But Joy shows how public backlash in the years leading up to Louise’s birth saw the team vilified – accused of playing God and creating “Frankenstein babies”.
Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie star alongside Norton, with the script written by acclaimed screenwriter Jack Thorne and his wife Rachel Mason.
The couple went through seven rounds of IVF themselves to conceive their son.
Norton portrays scientist Bob Edwards, while McKenzie plays embryologist Jean Purdy
While the film is set in the 1970s, the reality is that societal pressures haven’t changed all that much for many going through IVF today – with the costs now both emotional and financial.
“IVF is still seen as a luxury product, as something that some people get access to and others don’t,” said Thorne, speaking about their experiences in the UK.
“Louise was a working-class girl with working-class parents. Working class IVF babies are very, very rare now.”
In the run-up to the US election, Donald Trump saw IVF as a campaigning point – promising his government, or insurance companies, would pay for the treatment for all women should he be elected. He called himself the “father of IVF” at a campaign event – a remark described as “quite bizarre” by Kamala Harris.
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Bill Nighy ‘proud’ of new film on IVF breakthrough
“I don’t think Trump is a blueprint for this,” Norton said. “I don’t know how that fits alongside his questions around pro-choice.”
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In the UK, statistics from fertility regulator HEFA show the proportion of IVF cycles paid for by the NHS has dropped from 40% to 27% in the last decade.
“It’s so expensive,” Norton said. “Those who want a child should have that choice… and some people’s lack of access to this incredibly important science actually means that people don’t have the choice.”
Joy is in UK cinemas from 15 November, and on Netflix from 22 November
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