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.
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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