Kevin Spacey cleared of sexual assault charges in the UK

Kevin Spacey has been cleared of all charges in his U.K. sexual assault trial.

A London jury found the actor not guilty on nine charges he faced in connection with the alleged sexual assaults of four men. The incidents were alleged to have occurred between 2001 and 2013. Spacey served as artistic director at the Old Vic theater for the majority of those years.

Prosecutors described Spacey as a "sexual bully," and he was accused of groping three men, while another man alleged he woke up to find the actor performing oral sex on him. He pleaded not guilty. In his testimony, Spacey said he made a "clumsy pass" at one of the accusers but denied all of the allegations of sexual assault. "I'm a big flirt," he testified, and Spacey's attorney described the accusers as liars who hopped on a "bandwagon" by making up stories about him. The trial lasted four weeks.

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Spacey was facing jail time if he was convicted. Since 2017, the actor has been accused of sexual misconduct by numerous men, which derailed his acting career and led Netflix to fire him from "House of Cards." In October 2022, a jury found Spacey not liable in a sexual assault lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp. "Bringing this lawsuit was always about shining a light, as part of the larger movement to stand up against all forms of sexual violence," Rapp said at the time.

Ahead of his U.K. trial, Spacey claimed to ZEITmagazin that "there are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London," adding, "The second that happens, they're ready to move forward." According to CNN, the actor "had tears in his eyes" when his not guilty verdict was announced.

In a statement to the media outside the courthouse, Spacey said he is "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 the decision." He added that he is "humbled by the outcome today."