Kevin Spacey Calls Crotch Grabbing Claim ‘Absolute Bollocks’
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Kevin Spacey repeatedly rebuffed groping claims during his second day of testimony at his London sexual assault trial, July 14, leading to one particularly contentious exchange with a prosecutor.
Per The Associated Press, Spacey responded to one complainant’s claim that the actor grabbed him backstage at a charity event by declaring it, “Absolute bollocks!” In response, the case’s lead prosecutor quipped, “Yes, because that’s exactly where you did grab him, isn’t it?”
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Spacey reportedly seemed surprised by the particulars of the allegations, asking the judge “Really?” And then, “Did he accuse me of grabbing his bollocks?” After being told “yes,” Spacey was asked again to respond to the specific question, and said, “I did not.”
Later, Spacey tried to cast doubt on the claims of his accuser, who compared the way the actor allegedly grabbed him to a striking cobra. “You’re just making stuff up now,” Spacey said, arguing a few moments later that his accusers would make up such allegations because of “Money, money, and then money.”
When confronted with another complainant’s claim that Spacey grabbed his genitals at a pub, the actor did not refute the claim that he touched the man, though refuted the characterization. Claiming he had misread signals from the man, Spacey argued, “I would say in my estimate it is not a grab, not a grope. It is a gentle touch.”
During his first day of testimony on Thursday, July 13, Spacey similarly tried to refute the allegations of his accusers, including one claim that his alleged unwanted touching nearly caused one man to crash a car.
That man said that in the early 2000s, he was driving with Spacey to an event organized by Elton John; during the drive, the actor allegedly grabbed his genitals so hard, the man said he nearly crashed.
“That never happened,” Spacey told the court, per The Associated Press. “I was not on a suicide mission in any of those years.”
Spacey also attempted to cast some doubt on the accuser’s story by bringing up a potential inconsistency in the testimony. The man had said he believed the event occurred in either 2004 or 2005, but Spacey brought work schedules and itineraries that showed he was filming during that time. He also claimed he only ever attended one Elton John event in 2001.
While the accuser acknowledged he may have had the dates wrong, he was adamant the incident had happened. Afterward, he insisted, he stopped spending time with Spacey.
Speaking further about his relationship with the first complainant, Spacey described it as “intimate” and “somewhat sexual,” adding he likely instigated physical contact and told the court: “I’m a big flirt.” However, the actor claimed he always respected the man’s boundaries.
“He said things like, ‘This is new for me,’ so I think he may have been surprised by his reaction,” Spacey said. “The only thing he made clear was he didn’t want to go further than we were going, and I respected that.”
Right before the court broke for the afternoon, Spacey’s lawyer asked him what his reaction was when he heard the complainant had accused him of assault. Spacey said he was “crushed,” adding, “I never thought that [the man] I knew would … 20 years later stab me in the back.”
Spacey also addressed his decision to come out shortly after the allegations against him resurfaced, as well as the criticism that followed his announcement. “Members of the LGBTQ+ community were upset because I came out while I was responding to an accusation and now I understand why it was read that way,” Spacey said (via Variety). “It wasn’t how I intended it.”
“The gay community had been pressuring me for a very long time about coming out,” he added. “Maybe now the allegation against me by Anthony Rapp has been proven to be false, maybe people will read that statement with a little bit more understanding now.”
Spacey’s testimony came after the court heard from the four men whose accusations have led to 12 charges against the actor (Spacey has pleaded not guilty and denied the claims). During the trial’s opening statements in late June, prosecutor Christine Agnew called Spacey a “sexual bully” who “delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable.”
This is Spacey’s second major trial over sexual misconduct claims. Last October, the actor scored a major victory when a jury in the U.S. found him not liable for battery in a civil suit tied to allegations from Anthony Rapp, one of the first people to publicly accuse Spacey.
This story was updated 7/14/23 @ 1:16 p.m. ET with details from Spacey’s second day of testimony.
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