Kevin Spacey defended by Liam Neeson and others following British docuseries

Getty Images

Kevin Spacey will face another sexual assault trial in the UK next year, but today the two-time Oscar winner saw some major star power in his camp.

Liam Neeson, Sharon Stone and Stephen Fry have given unequivocal support to Spacey as the much-accused actor returns to the spotlight via new Channel 4 docuseries with even more allegations of serious misconduct.

“I was deeply saddened to learn of these accusations against him,” Taken franchise star Neesom told the Telegraph Today. “Kevin is a good man and a man of character. He is sensitive, articulate and non-judgmental, with a wonderful sense of humor. He is also one of our finest performers in theater and on camera.

“Personally speaking, our industry needs him and we miss him dearly,” concluded Neeson, who is no stranger to controversy himself.

Primary instinct Star Stone told the British newspaper: “I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He’s a genius. He is so stylish and fun, generous to a fault, and knows more about our business than most of us ever will.

Addressing the assault allegations and others that Spacey has fought in and out of court since 2017, former Oscar nominee Stone added: “It’s terrible that they’re accusing him of not being able to reconcile with him for using him and negotiating with him themselves because they didn’t understand their secret agendas.

Some of these so-called agendas against Spacey, who has won most of the sexual misconduct cases against him in recent years or seen them shut down due to deaths and more, were exposed during the premiere broadcast of Channel 4 on May 4. Spacey unmasked. The Katherine Haywood-directed series, which launched on Max in the US earlier this week, traces the allegations made by a number of men against Spacey from the start of his career through his time as scheming President Frank Underwood on Netflix. Card castle.

“I take full responsibility for my past behavior and my actions,” Spacey said earlier this month in an online interview with formerGB News presenter Dan Wootton. Using language he had used since the first accusations against him in 2017, Spacey added: “But I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologize to anyone who made things up about me or exaggerated stories about me.”

Spacey also said he did not have the time to fully respond to Spacey unmasked.

In this regard, today’s remarks from Neeson, Stone and others clearly constitute a coordinated attempt by Spacey and his representatives to reframe the narrative they fear in the docuseries — despite Spacey’s victories before the courts.

Whispered for years, Spacey came out as “gay” in October 2017 in a thoughtless and knee-jerk response to Star Trek: Discovery Actor and Broadway star Anthony Rapp’s claim that the older, more established actor made unwanted sexual advances toward him in 1986. The allegations were all the more inflammatory because Rapp was 14 at the time of the alleged Spacey incident in New York. apartment.

Although they brought Spacey’s career to its knees at the time, Rapp’s claims were quickly rejected by a Manhattan jury in a $40 million sexual misconduct lawsuit against the former director Artistic Art of the Old Vic in 2022.

To that end, Spacey himself spoke with the company almost owned by Jeff Zucker. Telegraph just like Fry, The White Lotus F. Murray Abraham – the Oscar winner called Spacey’s accusers “vultures” – and director Sir Trevor Nunn.

A true national treasure in Britain, Fry was keen to point out that although Spacey has been “clumsy” and “inappropriate” in his conduct over the years, it is unfair “to continue to harass and stalk him, to dedicate an entire documentary to him. charges that simply do not constitute crimes. Fry added: “How can this be considered proportionate and justified? »

“Surely it is wrong to continue to tarnish a reputation based on assertions and rhetoric rather than evidence and evidence? THE Red, white and royal blue The actor went on to talk about Spacey and his ride through the challenge of courts on both sides of the Atlantic. “Unless I’m missing something, I think he paid the price.”

Spacey was found not guilty in July 2023 in the United Kingdom of nine charges, including sexual assault. The allegations are believed to have occurred between 2001 and 2013 and involve four separate men.

In February 2024, the $31 million awarded by the courts to Card castle Producers Media Rights Capital following the show’s collapse due to the allegations against Spacey was reduced to $1 million. Thanks to the reduction in fees, the actor became a witness for the MRC against the insurance companies.

While the legal tide has turned in recent years in favor of American beauty And The usual suspects An Oscar winner, Spacey began playing small roles here and there, such as a voiceover in last year’s Welsh thriller. Control. In October last year, Spacey received a standing ovation after a short performance of Shakespeare at an Oxford University conference on cancel culture. Yet the actor, seemingly on the verge of bankruptcy, has done himself no favors with strange annual Christmas appearances as the accomplice Underwood for the past six years, including a desultory encounter with Tucker Carlson in 2023.

Last week it was announced that Spacey will face a civil trial in the UK in 2025 against a man who claims he was sexually assaulted by the actor years before.

The lawsuit was the result of Spacey’s lawyers successfully challenging a verdict against their client after the actor and his legal representatives erred and failed to appear at an earlier date to face the charges. “This is not a new trial,” Spacey told Deadline’s Max Goldbart in a May 7 statement. “As has been widely reported, this is the same trial brought in 2022 by a complainant who was disbelieved by a jury of my peers in 2022. the 2023 UK criminal trial, during which I was acquitted.