Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has denied he is a sexual bully as he told a jury he “did not have a power wand that I waved in front of people’s faces whenever I wanted someone to go to bed with me”.
As he continued to give evidence from the witness box on Friday, the Hollywood star labelled the prosecution’s case against him as “weak” – accusing one alleged victim of being after “money, money and then money”.
He told Southwark Crown Court he could have had sex “all the time” but found it hard to trust people because of his fame.
Spacey said he “objected” to the term “crotch grab” that his alleged victims had used in accusations against him and denied it was a “trademark” move.
After describing the accusation of an alleged victim he met in a West End theatre in the mid-2000s as “absolute bollocks”, prosecutor Christine Agnew KC responded: “Because that’s exactly where you did grab him, isn’t it?”
“Really?” Spacey replied before turning to the judge to ask: “Did he accuse me of grabbing his bollocks?”
After being asked by the judge to answer the question, the defendant eventually said: “I did not.”
He denies sex offences concerning four men, including sexual assault and indecent assault, which are alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013.
Miss Agnew put it to Spacey that he was not just a “big flirt” as he had described himself in evidence on Thursday, but a “big sexual bully”, to which the actor responded: “Yes, that’s your term.”
Miss Agnew put it to Spacey that he was “essentially the golden boy of the London theatre scene at the time” and the people he allegedly assaulted would be “unlikely to be believed”.
Asked if he considered himself to be a powerful man, the defendant said: “I did not have a power wand that I waved in front of people’s faces whenever I wanted someone to go to bed with me.”
At the start of his evidence, Spacey was questioned on whether a “crotch grab” was something he had done before that had worked, and that he considered it a “trademark”, to which he replied: “No.
“Let me put it this way, it is the term ‘grabbing a crotch’ or ‘groping a crotch’ that I object to.”
Responding to allegations made by an aspiring actor, who accused Spacey of having “drugged” him and performing a sex act on him while he was asleep in his flat in the late 2000s, the star said: “We were in a romantic situation.
First move
“I don’t know who made the first move, but we were consensually together in a romantic situation.
“He did not fall asleep, and I did not perform (a sex act) on him while he was asleep, despite what he has shockingly accused me of.”
When Miss Agnew suggested the complainant was asleep, Spacey said: “That’s your theory.”
“Well that is the prosecution case,” the prosecutor said.
Spacey replied: “And it’s a weak one.”
Addressing the suggestion that he might have “ignored” signs from the four complainants, Spacey said he “definitely misread” signs from one man who rejected an alleged sexual grab at an expensive property he was staying at in the Cotswolds in the early 2010s.
Spacey said the complainant who drove him to a lavish showbiz party in the early 2000s made allegations against him because he was “terribly ribbed and embarrassed” about choosing to engage sexually with the actor.
Miss Agnew asked Spacey: “Do you think that you might have misinterpreted what they were doing or saying?”
The actor replied: “If they went further than they wanted… they did not let me know that.”
Spacey said it “seems that they regretted what they did at a later time”.
Questioned on whether he thought people were tempted by his approaches because of “who you are”, the defendant said: “I hope they liked me because they liked me, not because of who I am.”
He continued: “I was a very fortunate actor who got some very remarkable film roles.”
Continuing to question the actor, Miss Agnew then asked: “Did you ever feel lonely in those years?”
“Of course,” Spacey answered.
Miss Agnew continued: “Did you then reach out to people sexually in order to ease that burden?”
Spacey replied: “Welcome to life. Yes, yes I did.”
Asked if he found a “thrill” out of taking “sexual risks” such as one-night stands, Spacey responded by saying he was “open” about the times he had been “promiscuous”.
“It doesn’t make me a bad person,” the actor added.
Miss Agnew then asked Spacey: “Have you found that due to your status and position, people normally did what you wanted them to do?”
“No,” the actor replied.
Miss Agnew went on: “You didn’t find it easier to pick up people because of who you are?”
Spacey answered: “I found it harder to trust people because of who I was.”
After the prosecutor asked the same question again, the actor responded: “I am sure if I wanted to I could have had sex all the time, but I didn’t.”
Spacey 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.
The two-time Academy Award winner 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.
