Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey is firing back at new allegations of sexual harassment and assault from men who will be featured as part of a documentary on British television that is due to be released next week.
“I’ve got nothing left to hide,” Spacey told former U.K. journalist Dan Wootton during a two-hour, 20 minute online interview titled, “Kevin Spacey: Right of Reply,” which was aired late Friday on Wootton’s YouTube channel and social media accounts.
In the interview, Spacey, 64, said he has never done anything illegal and admitted that he had struggled to get back to work after being acquitted last year of criminal charges in a London court.
“I can’t go through this again, allowing myself to be baselessly attacked without defending myself,” he said.
Last July, a London jury acquitted Spacey on sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years. The court victory was his second since a New York jury sided with Spacey in a $40 million lawsuit in 2022 brought by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp.
The documentary “Spacey Unmasked” is set to be aired on May 6 and 7 on Channel 4 in Britain and streamed on Max in the U.S. The documentary is said to feature testimony from men regarding events between 1976 and 2013, the actor revealed during the interview.
“I take full responsibility for my past behavior and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologize to anyone who’s made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me,” said Spacey, who won Academy Awards for “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty”.
“I’ve never told someone that if they give me sexual favors, then I will help them out with their career, never,” he added.
Spacey, who served as artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London from 2004 to 2015, again admitted that he was a “flirt” with men in their 20s and that he made “clumsy” passes at times.
“I’ve clearly hooked up with some men, who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me,” he said. “But there was no conversation with me, it was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail, because I wasn’t in on the deal.”
The actor said in the interview that having his Hollywood career cut short hit him financially, but that returning to work in the past year has been both welcomed and challenging. At the time of the first allegations in 2017, Spacey was starring as Frank Underwood in the highly popular Netflix drama “House of Cards.” It was also the beginning of the #MeToo movement.
“It does feel very special, a very, very valuable time because, you know, acting is really lying for a profession. You’re trying to convince an audience that you’re somebody else, which is probably why it’s easy for me and why many think I’m good at it,” Spacey told Wootton.
He added: “The reality is that I did only ever have one dream in life and that was to be an actor. And while I most certainly did love the attention I got, the truth is, I would be quite content to never show up at another award show ever again.”
The actor also claimed on X, formerly Twitter, that he had “repeatedly requested” that Channel 4 give him more than seven days to respond to the allegations made about him in their documentary.
Spacey said the broadcaster refused “on the basis that they feel that asking for a response in 7 days to new, anonymized and non-specific allegations is a ‘fair opportunity’ for me to refute any allegations made against me.”
“Each time I have been given the time and a proper forum to defend myself, the allegations have failed under scrutiny and I have been exonerated,” he added.
Spacey said he has struggled to get back to work after being acquitted of all criminal charges, describing his experience as a “life sentence.”
The Associated Press reached out to Channel 4 for comment. CBS News reached out to Max for comment.
Source : Cbs News
