It has been quite an emotional day for Kevin Spacey, who celebrated his 64th birthday at the Southwark Crown Court in London – where he was acquitted of all nine sexual offense charges brought against him in 2017. He was accused of sexually abusing more than a dozen accusers between 2001 and 2013.
On Wednesday (July 26), the now-64-year-old was overcome with emotion when the jury read the verdict. He initially pled not-guilty to 12 charges – one of which was ‘causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent’ – but three of those charges were struck down before the deliberations.
He is now officially being cleared of the other nine charges just 13 days after taking the stand in his own defense. He had tears rolling down the side of his face as the jury read the ninth ‘not guilty’ – meaning he’ll avoid prison and can begin the process of restoring the damage these allegations had on his life.
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During his testimony on July 13, Kevin Spacey admitted to having several consensual flings with men (including some of the accusers), but denied ever acting in a forceful manner. He also spoke of the impact the allegations have had on his life and how he has been without work for nearly six years as a result.
“My world exploded,” Spacey testified on Wednesday – the actor has worked on several small projects, but it’s nothing compared to his normal standard. “There was a rush to judgment and before the first question was asked or answered I lost my job, I lost my reputation, I lost everything in a matter of days.”
Spacey’s lawyer, Patrick Gibbs, went as far as calling three of the four accusers ‘liars’ who ‘re-imagined’ the incidents with ‘a sinister spin.’ As for the rest of the accusers, he believes they acted in unison and hopped on a ‘bandwagon’ that tried to bring the actor down. Unfortunately for them, that plan didn’t work.
On the other side of the trial, prosecutor Christine Agnew painted a completely different story and even described Kevin Spacey as a ‘sexual bully’ who had no regard for the well-being of others. She accused him of having a ‘trinity of protection’ that resulted in the accusers not wanting to come forward out of fear.
Kevin Spacey Eyes a Return to the Big Screen
It has been six years since the first accuser, Anthony Rapp, came forward with the initial allegations against Kevin Spacey. In those six years, Spacey has been blackballed by the entertainment industry and has struggled to find quality work, but he believes those days are behind him now that he was acquitted.
Now, with the nine charges behind him, Spacey has an opportunity to get his career back on track and begin the process of repairing the many aspects of his life and career that have been damaged over the past six years. He’s excited to return to the big screen (and theatre) and can’t wait to get back to work.
In fact, the actor claimed to have ‘people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London’ during an interview with Zeit magazine just one month ago. “Just because I was being benched for a while, I’m not going to stop working. I don’t want to get rusty. I’m ready,” he said.
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When the allegations came out, Spacey was dropped from his role on House of Cards and he was replaced by Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World – they went back and re-did all the scenes Kevin Spacey was in. Those days are behind him and he’s ready to make his triumphant return.
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