Kevin Spacey Made His Stage Return at a Cancel Culture Event — And Got a Standing Ovation
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
On Monday night, the University of Oxford hosted What Shakespeare Can Teach Us About Cancel Culture, a lecture from columnist Douglas Murray honoring the late conservative British philosopher Roger Scruton. There, Kevin Spacey performed a five-minute scene from Timon of Athens, marking his first onstage appearance since being acquitted of sexual assault in July. The audience punctuated his performance with a standing ovation.
Before the performance, Murray said: “In an era of cancellation and defenestration, we sometimes forget that we both cannot go on like this and that we have been here before … Timon has the whole world before him. He is surrounded by friends and admirers. He is generous to all. Yet he falls on hard times and when he does absolutely everybody deserts him. He is left with nothing and nobody, and risks being filled with despair and rage.”
More from Rolling Stone
Kevin Spacey, Newly Acquitted of Sexual Assault, Appears in Trailer for 'Control' Movie
Kevin Spacey Found Not Guilty in London Sexual Assault Trial
Murray concluded his lecture with the introduction of Spacey, during which he referred to the actor as “one of the greatest actors of his generation and somebody I am very proud to call a friend.”
In an interview with The Times, the columnist explained that he saw parallels between the stories of Scruton — who was fired from his position in the U.K. government following a controversial interview with New Statesman magazine — and Spacey, who was faced with 13 counts of assault and misconduct charges stemming from accusations of unwanted advances and touching, and in one instance, alleged oral sex without consent. He was found not guilty after 12 hours of jury deliberation.
Spacey’s other attempts at re-entering the performance space have largely been thwarted. Earlier this week, a movie theater in London that was initially set to host the debut of the actor’s latest film, Control, in which he has a prominent voice-acting role, canceled the premiere.
“Last night it came to our attention that your film features Kevin Spacey, in particular his first film since the court case,” management at Prince Charles Cinema wrote in a letter to the film’s lead actress, Lauren Metcalf. “My staff as well as I are horrified that we are being mentioned in the same breath as his new film for the premiere.”
The film’s director, Gene Fallaize, has said that the world premiere of Control will now be hosted at the “the larger Genesis Cinema on Nov 14.”
Best of Rolling Stone
