Kevin Spacey was a “predator” who good-looking young men were warned about because it was well known he was “up to no good”, a court has heard.
An alleged victim of the Oscar-winning actor told police that Spacey was a “very slippery, snaky, difficult person” who groomed him. He said the 63-year-old actor tried to reel him in with promises of introductions to Hollywood stars before assaulting him a dozen times.
In a police interview shown to jurors at Southwark crown court, the complainant said he was once driving the House of Cards star to a party hosted by Elton John when Spacey grabbed his penis with such force that he almost crashed.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Spacey’s behaviour was known at the Old Vic theatre in London where he was artistic director from 2003 to 2015.
The man said: “It used to be a laughing joke about what was going on there. It was known. It was little comments, if a new apprentice had come in from university – a good-looking boy – people would say ‘you better be careful’. It was well known that he [Spacey] was up to no good.”
Spacey appeared in the dock on Monday, the third day of his month-long trial.
He has previously denied 12 charges, including sexual assault and indecent assault, against four men in their 20s and 30s, between 2001 and 2013.
The actor’s first accuser alleges that in the early 2000s Spacey regularly groped him before laughing at the man’s objections. Spacey’s behaviour is alleged to have escalated over time, leaving the man feeling sick, ashamed and embarrassed. The man claimed Spacey assaulted him “a good dozen times”.
He described Spacey as “creepy” while referencing the actor’s turn as a serial killer in the film Seven, saying: “The character in that, he’s a bit like that, a bit creepy. Maybe not quite as bad.”
The man said he felt as if Spacey thought he could groom him and that he tried to blank out the abuse. He did not feel able to come forward to police until 2022, he said.
The man said: “[Spacey] was very generous as well. He’d give me and my girlfriend front row seats to premieres and dinner on him. That’s what they do, try to reel you in, ‘I’ll give them that and they won’t say anything.’”
He added that Spacey would flatter him and tell him he was going to introduce him to lots of A-list and Hollywood stars. He said Spacey was “pretending to be friendly and nice” but was a “predator” who was “aggressive”.
The man said Spacey was “touchy-feely” with him within two to three weeks of meeting him, which made him feel uncomfortable. He said Spacey would also talk about his personal life, including his troubled childhood.
The man said: “He was almost right from the get-go grooming me to see if I might swing a little bit, if I was a little bit gay.”
He added: “He was a very mixed-up individual. He didn’t know if he was straight or gay and he was clearly gay.”
The man said there were “multiple occasions, up to 12 times, he assaulted me when I was with him, in his company. He grabbed me in private areas, and then tried to get my hands on him, just at different times, in the car, in lifts.
“Every time we became alone over the years, on multiple occasions, he would try and grope me, grab me, and make me feel very very uncomfortable.”
He said he could vividly remember the last alleged incident, which led to him cutting off ties with Spacey. He said he was driving the actor to a party hosted by Elton John when Spacey grabbed his genitals so hard that he almost crashed the car.
Describing the incident that left him “winded”, the man said: “He grabbed me so hard I almost came off the road. He grabbed me really hard and it really hurt. I pushed him against the door and said: ‘Don’t do that again or I will knock you out.’”
He said Spacey giggled in response and said: “That’s such a turn-on to me.”
In cross-examination, Patrick Gibbs KC, defending Spacey, suggested the man was “excited” by the encounters. The man, who gave evidence from behind a curtain, replied: “It made me feel sick, very awkward. Distressing. Exciting? No. I’m a man’s man and I had a beautiful woman at home … The opposite of exciting.”
Gibbs also suggested the man was financially motivated, saying: “In 2022 you saw a bandwagon coming along and you decided to hop on board?”
The complainant replied: “That’s not true at all. I’m doing particularly well in my life and I could do without the stress of this … It was the fact that it was in the news and it was all coming back to me.
“It made me have those feelings that I had then, thinking some others have been brave enough to come forward. It caused me to come forward and tell the truth as well.”
Spacey denies 12 charges, which include seven of sexual assault, three of indecent assault, one count 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.
On Friday, Gibbs suggested to the jurors that the complainants were motivated by his client’s fame and fortune.
The trial continues.
