Kevin Spacey broke down in tears after being found not guilty of a slew of sexual assault allegations and said he is “humbled” as he walked free from court.
The Hollywood star, 64, was accused of being a “sexual bully” while abusing his power and fame to grope and harass four young men he came into contact with.
It was said Spacey had a “trademark”, to grab men by the crotch without warning, and in one instance he was accused of performing a sex act on a young actor who had come to him for help with his career.
But the double Oscar-winning star of The Usual Suspects and American Beauty defiantly told a criminal trial in London that he had been falsely accused by men who were either out for money or confused about their own sexuality.
Spacey told jurors of “casual indiscriminate sexual encounters”, but insisted having “promiscuous” one-night stands “doesn’t make me a bad person”.
In one of the incidents, Spacey admitted touching a man’s crotch but insisted it was a “clumsy pass” after misreading the signals, rather than a sexual assault.
At the end of a four-week trial, a jury of nine men and three women deliberated for two and a half days before finding Spacey not guilty of seven counts of sexual assault, one charge of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
Spacey broke down in tears in the dock as the verdicts were delivered, before holding his hand on his chest and mouthing “thank you” to jurors as they departed.
He embraced his legal team and thanked the court usher before finally leaving the courtroom.
On the steps of the courthouse in central London, Spacey gave a short statement to the assembled members of the media.
“I imagine many of you can understand there’s a lot for me to process after what’s just happened today”, he said.
“But I would like to say that I’m enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision.
“And I am humbled by the outcome today.”
Spacey also thanked the court staff, security guards, and his legal team, before making his way through a scrum of photographers to his waiting car.
Earlier, Spacey held an unusual meet and greet with five of the jurors from his case in the courthouse lobby, shaking their hands and tearfully thanking them for the verdicts.
Spacey’s acquittal could pave the way for a return to acting that looked incredibly unlikely when he was first accused during the original wave of #MeToo allegations.
In October 2017, actor Anthony Rapp went public with a claim that Spacey had climbed on top of him and made a sexual advance during a Broadway after-party in 1986, when he was just 14.
The story was published in the same month as rape allegations against disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, and Spacey responded by coming out as gay, saying he does not remember the incident, and apologising to Rapp.
“If I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour”, he wrote.
However, when sued by Rapp, Spacey fought the claim and emerged victorious from a New York civil trial last October.
Spacey told the court his “world exploded” when first accused, as he was dropped from the TV show House of Cards and his Oscar-tipped part in All the Money in the World was axed.
He was ordered by a court in 2021 to pay £23.2m to the studio behind House of Cards as a result of the misconduct allegations being made against him, including that he had created a "toxic" work environment, made crude comments, and allegedly touched young staffers without their consent.
A civil action involving an alleged grope of a teenager at a Massachusetts bar in 2016 was ultimately dropped, while another damages claim ended when the alleged victim, a massage therapist in Malibu, California, died.
Wednesday’s not guilty verdicts in London do not bring an end to Spacey’s legal troubles, as he is already being sued in the civil courts by two of his accusers from the criminal case. The trial centred on claims that Spacey had sexually assaulted three men in London and a fourth in the Cotswolds between 2001 and 2013.
One claims Spacey had repeatedly groped him without consent as he drove, including once on the journey to Sir Elton John’s famous White Tie and Tiara Ball.
Spacey told jurors he was “crushed” by the allegations, insisting the encounters had been “romantic” and, crucially, entirely consensual with a man who may have been exploring his sexuality. The actor also called Sir Elton and husband David Furnish to give evidence, to cast doubt on the man’s account.
A second man accused Spacey of groping him at a holiday home after a drinking session in the pub, suggesting the star grabbed his crotch and looked “panicked” when he was pushed away.
Spacey called it a “clumsy pass” and told jurors he hugged and kissed the man before touching him intimately, arguing he had “misreading the signals” but stopped when he realised his error. The third accuser alleged Spacey had turned up drunk and dishevelled to a West End theatre for a charity event, and claimed he was sexually assaulted and subjected to “vile” comments from the actor.
From the witness box, Spacey issued furious denials to the man’s claims which he called “absolute bollocks” and suggested his accuser was out for “money, money and then money”. “It’s madness. It never happened”, said Spacey, before calling witnesses who were at the event to contradict claims about his appearance and demeanour.
The fourth man said he met Spacey for tips on his acting career, and ended up back at the star’s £2.8 million London penthouse apartment.
He claimed Spacey performed a sex act on him as he slept, and in evidence to the court he claimed Spacey had drugged him. Spacey countered that it was consensual sexual encounter after a “lovely evening”, and said he believes the man may have met him in a bid to boost his career and later regretted what happened. During the trial, the court heard how Spacey became the artistic director of the Old Vic in 2003, and agreed to helm efforts to restore the theatre to its former glory.
He drew famous names including Jeff Goldblum, Sam Mendes, Colm Meaney, and Neve Cambell to the theatre, and was awarded an honourary knighthood shortly after his tenure as artistic director ended in 2015.
Christina Temple-Morris, the Old Vic’s former head of events, was among Spacey’s friends who gave character evidence for him.
He had “saved” the theatre from ruin, she told the court, and she recalled “drinking, laughing and flirting” at show parties but “never witnessed anything I believed to be untoward”.
Denzil Keim, a front of house staffer, said Spacey was “always up for a laugh” and called him a “good and honest man”.
Old Vic trustee Sally Greene, who helped to bring Spacey to London’s theatre world, stepped down in April, shortly before the trial began, citing personal reasons and to spend more time with her family.
She was accused in the trial of having “laughed off” allegations against Spacey, and jurors were told she had opted not to take part in criminal proceedings.
In November 2017, after Spacey had first faced public allegations of misconduct, the Old Vic opened up a complaints process and announced it had received 20 allegations about the star.
Theatre bosses apologised, and blamed a “cult of personality” around Spacey that made it difficult for staff to speak out.
A few months before his criminal trial, Spacey accepted a lifetime achievement award from Italy’s National Museum of Cinema and thanked organisers for having “the courage, the balls, to invite me”.
