“My world exploded,” Kevin Spacey told jurors as he gave evidence during his sexual assault trial. “There was a rush to judgement and before the first question was asked or answered I lost my job, I lost my reputation – I lost everything, in a matter of days.”
The Hollywood star fought back tears as he sat in the witness box at Southwark Crown Court in London, describing how initial allegations in the US in October 2017 – which were followed by those here in the UK, leading to the London court case – created a domino effect of claims, ruining his Oscar-winning career.
Jurors had to decide whether he was telling the truth, or if this was simply another performance.
Image: Kevin Spacey was dropped from Netflix series House Of Cards
As the initial allegations emerged, Spacey was largely shunned in Hollywood; quickly erased from Ridley Scott’s All The Money In The World, released in December 2017 – with Christopher Plummer reshooting his scenes as billionaire John Paul Getty – and axed from his Golden Globe-winning role as scheming politician Frank Underwood in the Netflix political drama series House Of Cards.
The court was told that allegations by one man were “madness”, and that Spacey had consensual sexual encounters with two others. He conceded to making a “clumsy pass” at a fourth man, but said the incident was no more than this.
‘Easy for accusers to lie’ about ‘promiscuous’ Spacey, court told
Jurors were told by the star of his determination to prove his innocence, doggedly digging through old records, boxes of photos and any evidence that could disprove the claims. And his barrister, Patrick Gibbs KC, told them the star had been “cancelled” and “tried by social media”.
It was “easy” to lie about Spacey, Mr Gibbs said: “A man who is promiscuous, not publicly out, although everyone in the businesses knows he’s gay, who wants to be just a normal guy, or at least some of the time he does – to drink beer and laugh and smoke weed and sit in the front and spend time with younger people who he’s attracted to…
“It’s not my life, it’s not your life, perhaps it’s a bit of an odd life, but it’s a life that makes you an easy target when the internet turns against you and you’re tried by social media.”
‘Does this verdict allow Kevin Spacey to be Kevin Spacey?’
Now, Spacey has been found not guilty. Does this mean he can revive his career?
“The verdict is a major victory for Spacey in clearing his name,” said US celebrity lawyer Christopher Melcher. “Although he faced four accusers who told similar accounts of sexually aggressive behaviour, Spacey steadfastly maintained his innocence.
“The verdict supports Spacey’s denials of the accusations and provides a clear path for him to return to work as an actor. Producers are able to work with Spacey because he has been acquitted, which lessens their exposure if he is hired.”
However, celebrity PR and brand expert Mark Borkowski is not so sure.
“Certainly the result has put a lot of the sort of noise that’s surrounded this case behind him,” he said. “The question is, does this verdict allow Kevin Spacey to be Kevin Spacey? To be that iconic actor who has oodles of talent to regain his position as one of the A-listers of Hollywood?
“Sadly not. We live in a corporate world now and raising money, getting insurance, all those other factors exist on social media, where mainstream media has not got the same power.”
Before the court case, in an interview, Spacey said there were directors and producers “ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London”.
Despite that happening, many filmmakers might still be wary of working with Spacey knowing any project could still be “dogged by negativity”, Mr Borkowski said.
Image: Pic: AP/Chris Pizzello
“Kevin Spacey, if he wants to move forward, will be clinging to the hope that there is a radical independent filmmaker who is fearless, who has a wonderful script and a remarkable project with a number of actors who are willing to work on the project.
“And if it gets picked up on the independent movie circuit, you know where there are, how shall we say, countries like Italy, France, around the world that don’t have the same perceptions as an American or a British audience or a German audience might have on this, there could be people who think, oh, that’s been a commercial success, let’s think about the next project.
“But it won’t be a franchise movie, it will not be Disney or Marvel coming forward to take that on. It just is something that they would feel that is too dangerous in terms of negative publicity for their brand and some of the values that they project.”
The stories about Sir Elton John and Dame Judi Dench
During the trial, Sir Elton John – who was chairman of The Old Vic when Spacey was appointed – was called to give evidence, and the court also heard tales of Spacey teaching Dame Judi Dench to play ping pong; there was no avoiding the strange and surreal world of celebrity at the centre of the case.
The timings of the UK claims mostly coincided with the actor’s time working at the theatre. He was involved from 2001, and began his tenure as artistic director from 2003 to 2015. Signing him had been quite the coup, a chance to turn the venue’s fortunes around.
Alistair Smith, editor of entertainment newspaper The Stage, interviewed Spacey towards the beginning of his tenure at the theatre, after he arrived as “a sort of Old Vic saviour figure” after a period in which it struggled financially.
“Previously, there was a real threat to its future,” says Smith. “There was talk of it turning into a bingo hall or even a lap dancing club… [Spacey] coming in brought a lot more attention to it, it brought funding, it brought sponsors, and attention in the media. And so there was, when he joined, quite a lot of excitement about it.”
Spacey’s arrival was seen as a chance to revive an important theatrical institution, and people in the industry were excited to have a Hollywood star committing to London theatre.
Things didn’t start well, but improved as Spacey performed more himself. By the time he left, the Old Vic “was financially secure and had rebuilt its artistic reputation”. For a period, he had re-established the venue as one of London’s leading theatres.
Whatever the verdict, there were accounts of ‘inappropriate conduct in the workplace’
But in November 2017, shortly after the allegations came out in the US, the Old Vic said it had received 20 allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against Spacey. Only one of the claims was reported, an investigation found, but staff were “unclear about how to respond”.
In the wake of the scandal, the theatre implemented a “Guardians” programme, designed to allow employees a confidential means of sharing concerns about behaviour at work.
Despite the star now being cleared of criminal charges in the UK, the fallout from the accusations against him has still had a “massively damaging effect” on the venue’s reputation, Smith says.
“Even before this court case, this trial, the 20 allegations against Kevin Spacey that came out of the Old Vic’s own investigation in 2017, I think had raised some very serious questions about the Old Vic and how it handled having a star at its helm over that period.”
Paul Fleming, general secretary of actors’ union Equity, says that despite the verdict, “nobody who is poorly treated in a workplace should ever be put in the position of having to bring something to a criminal trial”.
He told Sky News: “There should be processes in a workplace to keep them healthy and safe. And that duty rests with the employer. I’m not convinced, six years on, that theatre producers, TV producers, film producers, have put in place robust enough systems to prevent allegations like this arising significantly after the event.”
Mr Fleming said that there has been movement since the rise of #MeToo, but not enough. “There is no doubt that there are a series of accounts of inappropriate conduct in the workplace,” he said. “Whether they’re criminal or not has been a matter for the courts. The fact of the matter is there’s a lot of behaviour that is inappropriate, that is unsafe in the workplace, that there should be processes in place to allow people to resolve them.”
For Spacey, these claims have overshadowed his once glittering acting career for six years – but all criminal charges are now behind him. After telling the court how he lost his work and his fortune, it’s likely the star will be hoping this verdict can finally signal his Hollywood return.
Tom Cruise has paid tribute to Val Kilmer, wishing his Top Gun co-star “well on the next journey”.
Cruise, speaking at the CinemaCon film event in Las Vegas on Thursday, asked for a moment’s silence to reflect on the “wonderful” times shared with the star, whom he called a “dear friend”.
Kilmer, who died of pneumonia on Tuesday aged 65, rocketed to fame starring alongside Cruise in the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun, playing Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, a rival fighter pilot to Cruise’s character Maverick.
Image: Tom Cruise said ‘I wish you well on the next journey’. Pic: AP
Image: Val Kilmer in 2017. Pic: AP
His last part was a cameo role in the 2022 blockbuster sequel Top Gun: Maverick.
Cruise, on stage at Caesars Palace on Thursday, said: “I’d like to honour a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I can’t tell you how much I admire his work, how grateful and honoured I was when he joined Top Gun and came back later for Top Gun: Maverick.
“I think it would be really nice if we could have a moment together because he loved movies and he gave a lot to all of us. Just kind of think about all the wonderful times that we had with him.
“I wish you well on the next journey.”
The moment of silence followed a string of tributes from Hollywood figures including Cher, Francis Ford Coppola, Antonio Banderas and Michelle Monaghan.
Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes told the New York Times on Wednesday that the actor had died from pneumonia.
Image: Tom Cruise at Caesars Palace on Thursday. Pic: AP
Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014, Kilmer discussed his illness and recovery in his 2020 memoir Your Huckleberry and Amazon Prime documentary Val.
He underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments for the disease and also had a tracheostomy which damaged his vocal cords and permanently gave him a raspy speaking voice.
Kilmer played Batman in the 1995 film Batman Forever and received critical acclaim for his portrayal of rock singer Jim Morrison in the 1991 movie The Doors.
He also starred in True Romance and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, as well as playing criminal Chris Shiherlis in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie Heat and Doc Holliday in the 1993 film Tombstone.
In 1988 he married British actress Joanne Whalley, whom he met while working on fantasy adventure Willow.
The couple had two children before divorcing in 1996.
Bruce Springsteen is to release seven albums of mostly unheard material this summer.
The US singer said the songs, written and re-recorded between 1983 and 2018, were being made public after he began completing “everything I had in my vault” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a short video posted on Instagram, Springsteen said the albums were “records that were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released”.
The 83-song collection is being released in a box set called Tracks II: The Lost Albums and goes on sale on 27 June.
Some 74 of the tracks have never been heard before.
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Springsteen first teased the release on Wednesday morning with a short social media video accompanied by text which said: “What was lost has been found”.
Tracks II is the follow-up to the star’s first Tracks volume, a four-CD collection of 66 unreleased songs, released in 1998.
Image: Bruce Springsteen at New York’s Carnegie Hall at a tribute to Patti Smith last month. Pic: PA
The New Jersey-born rocker, nicknamed The Boss, last released a studio album in 2022.
Only the Strong Survive was a collection of covers, including songs by Motown and soul artists, such as the Four Tops, The Temptations, The Supremes, Frankie Wilson and Jimmy Ruffin.
The late soul legend Sam Moore, who died in January and was a frequent Springsteen collaborator, sang on two of the tracks.
A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.
Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.
“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.
The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.
Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.
He also set up social media accounts in his name.
Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.
Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.
The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”
Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.
Image: Kyle Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA
In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”
Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”
Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”
The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.
‘I know where you live’
On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.
The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.
Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”
Image: Ballas has been head judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017. Pic: PA
Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.
The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.
“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.
“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”
Image: Shaw pictured at court in February. Pic: PA
Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.
He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”
Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.