Kevin Spacey fought again tears as he informed a London court docket on Thursday how his “world exploded” when he was first accused of sexual assault. The two-time Oscar-winning actor is standing trial at Southwark Crown Court on a dozen fees of intercourse offences in opposition to 4 males between 2001 and 2013, after they have been of their 20s and 30s.

Giving proof firstly of his defence, Spacey denied committing any sexual assaults and informed jurors he had been “crushed” by the allegations. He has pleaded not responsible

to all the fees. The 63-year-old grew to become emotional as he described what he stated was the influence of separate accusations that have been first made within the U.S. in 2017 by actor Anthony Rapp and revealed by Buzzfeed.

“My world exploded,” he stated. “There was a rush to judgment” after the article was revealed, he added. “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 stated that, except for “some courageous and very kind film-makers and producers” who’ve requested him to affix initiatives, he has not labored since. The actor informed jurors that, in response to Rapp’s accusations, he issued a press release during which he stated he was homosexual.

Spacey, who at occasions wiped tears from his eyes with a tissue, stated: “Members of the LGBTQ+ community were upset because I came out while I was responding to an accusation … now I understand why it was read that way.” Rapp, who accused him of creating an undesirable sexual advance in 1986 when he was 14, introduced a civil lawsuit in opposition to the actor however misplaced the case final yr, Spacey stated.

“Maybe now that the allegation by Anthony Rapp has been proven to be false, maybe people will read that statement with a little bit more understanding now,” he stated. ‘IT WAS, IN MY MIND, ROMANTIC’

Earlier, Spacey was requested about one of many complainants who alleges the actor assaulted him on as much as 12 events over a interval of about 4 years within the early 2000s. The actor described the complainant as “funny and charming and flirtatious”. Asked if he himself was flirtatious, Spacey replied: “Yeah. I’m a flirt, I’m a big flirt.”

He stated that as his relationship with the complainant developed over time “it became somewhat sexual”. Spacey denied that it was non-consensual, saying: “It didn’t happen in a violent, aggressive, painful way. It was gentle and it was touching and it was, in my mind, romantic.”

Spacey denied sexually assaulting a second man who alleges the actor subjected him to a tirade of sexualised remarks at a charity occasion in London and says Spacey spun him spherical and painfully grabbed his crotch like “a cobra”. “I never said any of the things that he claims I said to him,” Spacey stated. On the alleged assault, he added: “It never happened.”

Spacey additionally denied a 3rd complainant’s allegations, who says the actor carried out oral intercourse on him whereas he was handed out in Spacey’s London condo within the late 2000s. “We had a consensual, I believe nice and lovely evening and then he – if he regretted it immediately, I don’t know, I can’t speak for him,” Spacey stated.

The fourth complainant alleges Spacey gave him an “awkward” hug, earlier than kissing his neck after which grabbing his crotch after going with buddies to the place Spacey was staying close to Oxford in central England. Spacey accepted that he could have made what his lawyer Patrick Gibbs described as a “clumsy pass at someone,” however denied sexually assaulting the person.

Spacey is anticipated to face questions from the prosecution on Friday.

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