Kevin Spacey has addressed the press corps following Wednesday’s not guilty verdict in his London sexual assault trial and after two days of deliberations — his first time speaking out since legal proceedings began on June 28.
Earlier Wednesday, the Oscar-winning “American Beauty” actor was cleared of all nine charges of sexual assault, indecent assault, and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity after the jury heard from four men who made complaints against him.
As broadcast by BBC World News, Spacey told reporters, “I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what just happened today. I would like to say that I’m enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision, and I am humbled by the outcome today.”
He said, “I also want to thank the staff inside this courthouse, the security and all those who took care of us, every single day, my legal team […] for being here every day, and that’s all I have to say for the moment.”
Wednesday also marked the “Usual Suspects” actor and former Old Vic theatre director’s 64th birthday.
Spacey fell swiftly after Anthony Rapp, in 2017 at the height of the #MeToo movement, accused the actor of making a sexual advance toward him at a party in 1986 when Rapp was then 14. Spacey was fired from Netflix’s pioneering streaming series “House of Cards” and from Ridley Scott’s feature “All the Money in the World.” But until the recent legal trial, Spacey has remained, if intermittently, outspoken about being a Hollywood persona non grata via cryptic videos he’s posted on YouTube in the guise of his drawling “House of Cards” politico character, Frank Underwood. A number of people who worked on the series were among the accusers who came forth following Rapp’s allegations. Others included filmmaker Tony Montana and Richard Dreyfuss’ son Harry, as well as young men Spacey worked with at the Old Vic.
The Tony and two-time Academy Award winner reemerged onscreen last year with a role in the Italian film “The Man Who Drew God,” which received distribution abroad but has not screened in the United States.
