Kevin Spacey, the Oscar-winning actor, has refuted new allegations of inappropriate conduct from men who are to be featured in an upcoming documentary on British television.
In an online interview with journalist Dan Wootton, Spacey stated that he has never engaged in any illegal activities and confessed to facing difficulties in returning to work after being cleared of criminal charges in a London court last year. "I can’t endure this again, allowing myself to be unjustly attacked without defending myself," he expressed in the interview titled “Kevin Spacey: Right Of Reply,” which aired late Friday on Wootton’s YouTube channel.
Last July, a London jury acquitted Spacey of sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years. This victory in court marked his second legal success, following the dismissal of a $40 million lawsuit in 2022 in New York brought by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp.
The documentary “Spacey Unmasked” is slated to air on May 6 and 7 on Channel 4 in Britain and will be streamed on Max in the U.S.
During the interview, the actor disclosed that the documentary is expected to include testimonies from men concerning events between 1976 and 2013.
“I take full responsibility for my past behavior and actions, but I cannot and will not accept responsibility or apologize to anyone who has fabricated or exaggerated stories about me,” said Spacey, a recipient of Academy Awards for “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty”. “I’ve never promised someone career advancement in exchange for sexual favors, never," he added.
Spacey, who served as the artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London from 2004 to 2015, also admitted to being a “flirt” with men in their 20s and acknowledged making “clumsy” advances at times.
“I’ve clearly been involved with some men who believed they could progress in their careers by having a relationship with me," he remarked. "However, there was no negotiation with me; it was all part of their scheme, a scheme that was always doomed to fail because I was not involved in the agreement.”
The actor also asserted on X, formerly Twitter, that he had “repeatedly requested” Channel 4 to provide him with more than seven days to respond to the allegations made against him in their documentary.
Spacey claimed that the broadcaster declined his request “under the pretext that they consider requesting a response within 7 days to new, anonymized, and non-specific allegations as a ‘fair opportunity’ for me to rebut any allegations made against me. Whenever I have been given the time and an appropriate platform to defend myself, the allegations have not withstood scrutiny, and I have been cleared,” he added.
Spacey lamented the challenges he has faced in resuming his career following his acquittal of all criminal charges, describing his experience as a “life sentence.”
Since 2017, when he was first publicly accused of inappropriate behavior at the onset of the #MeToo movement, his acting career has been negatively impacted. He subsequently lost his leading role as Frank Underwood in the Netflix drama “House of Cards."