Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey was “tried by social media” and “cancelled” after he was accused of sexual assaults, a court has heard.
The 63-year-old, standing trial under his full name Kevin Spacey Fowler, is charged with nine sexual offences concerning four men which were were allegedly committed between 2001 and 2013.
The two-time Academy Award winner leaned forward in his chair in the dock and watched intently through the glass as his defence barrister Patrick Gibbs KC gave a closing speech at Southwark Crown Court in London on Thursday.
“What the defence suggests is that three people have lied and they have lied in ways and for reasons which, ultimately, will only ever be known to themselves,” said Mr Gibbs, who suggested the fourth complainant was intoxicated.
He discussed topics including “fame, shame, money and memory” and told jurors: “It’s not a crime to like sex, even if you’re famous and it’s not a crime to have sex, even if you’re famous, and it’s not a crime to have casual sex.
“And it’s not a crime to have sex with someone of the same sex because it’s 2023 not 1823.”
He challenged the Crown’s claim that there was a “pattern of similarity” between the accusers because three claim Spacey “grabbed” them by the crotch, a term Spacey previously told the court he “objected” to.
Mr Gibbs said that: “With each allegation that’s discredited, the possibility, the reality, that false allegations, even apparently convincing false allegations, really do happen.
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