Kevin Spacey grabbed a man “like a cobra” in a West End theatre while making a “barrage of vile comments”, a court has heard.
A jury heard that the Oscar-winning actor “smelled of booze” before grabbing the complainant.
The man later told a police officer he remembered “freezing and pushing his arm away” when Spacey allegedly assaulted him, describing it as a “bizarre and horrible experience”. He also detailed a “barrage” of comments during the incident, telling the officer: “Maybe he enjoyed me being uncomfortable.”
Southwark crown court was played footage of the police interview with the alleged victim on Wednesday. He claimed Spacey had taken “no responsibility” for the incident. “He just said ‘I’m gay’,” the complainant told the officer.
Describing the alleged assault the man said Spacey “was like a cobra and grabbed with such force it was really painful” and “like a cobra coming out and getting hold”.
“It was aggressive. It wasn’t trying to be a seduction. It was angry,” he added.
Asked about Spacey’s response, he said: “He sort of laughed.”
Detailing his first impressions of the actor, who he met at a rehearsal for a charity event at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “My opinion when he arrived was he smelled of booze. He looked dishevelled. He did not look like he had been to sleep.”
The man told the officer he was “taken aback” by Spacey’s crude comments. “It was very aggressive. I have never had anyone talk to me in that way … It was all getting hardcore,” he said. “This conversation went on. I was laughing but on the inside feeling very uncomfortable. I was feeling very shocked.”
“My first impression is that he seemed very arrogant. I remember he looked me up and down and looked at my crotch region. He did not respond to me particularly politely,” he said.
Asked why he had come forward to police, the alleged victim said it was as if he had “allowed somebody, in a way, to denigrate me”.
He told police: “I hope he does the right thing – if he apologises then maybe I won’t want him to go to court … He’s still not hearing what he did was wrong – that’s sort of spurred me on a bit.”
The complainant said he initially withheld the allegations because the Hollywood star was seen as a “golden boy”.
“I put it in a box and carried on with my life but he had a detrimental effect on my life and my business. It is like telling tales out of school, in a way,” he told the officer.
Spacey, 63, is accused of sexual offences against four men between 2001 and 2013.
The defendant pleaded not guilty in January to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
He has also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
The trial continues.
PA Media contributed to this report
