Warning: this article contains references to an alleged sexual assault
After years since the allegations came out, House of Cards and American Beauty star Kevin Spacey is finally facing trial for 12 counts of sexual assault against four different men, alleged to have taken place between 2001 and 2013. And, as per Variety, the court has already heard a harrowing account of some of his supposed actions, including one from an alleged victim that likened the actor to a character he played in the thriller Se7en.
In the famous David Fincher film, also starring Morgan Freeman, Gwenyth Paltrow, and Brad Pitt, Spacey played a meticulous but deluded serial killer who believed he was cleansing the world by murdering victims who’d broken the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. The killer dispatches his victims in horrifically inventive ways that are linked directly to the sin he believes they’ve committed. And, according to a pre-recorded police interview which was played to a jury at Southwark Crown Court in London, the actor was just as vicious and unnerving to be around as his character.
The man, who can’t be identified because of British law, said Spacey had inappropriately touched him “a good dozen times,” including groping his inner thighs and genitals over his clothes, “smack[ing] his arse” and moving his hands so that they would come into contact with Spacey’s genitals. According to the man, the incidents are said to have taken place over the space of “a few years.”
Aside from these details, the man also compared Spacey to the serial killer he portrayed in the Fincher film. “His character in ‘Se7en,’ he’s a bit like that,” the man said, adding, “A bit creepy. Maybe not quite as bad.”
The unnamed man also went on to discuss how Spacey seemed to groom him from the off. The alleged victim first met the famous actor while the latter was the artistic director of the famous Old Vic theater in London, and the American star immediately love-bombed him, drowning him in compliments. The man said: “He was almost right from the get-go grooming me.”
The compliments soon allegedly shifted into more physical things, like unwanted and inappropriate touching. The man stated:
“He’d grab my hand and put my hand on his privates. I used to call him a weirdo. I used to say ‘You’re a fucking weirdo.’ He used to laugh about it, he used to find it funny… he wasn’t embarrassed.”
The man also said that Spacey was both “very charming” and “quite an angry person,” which made it hard to know how to act around him.
The issues escalated until a final altercation, which the man said took place in a car during a ride to an event of some kind, where there would be plenty of other celebrities. The actor was reportedly inebriated and was said to be paranoid about being followed by press and paparazzi. The alleged victim was driving the vehicle at the time, and said that as they got closer to the venue in which the party was taking place, Spacey grabbed hold of his genitals with such force that he almost crashed the car in shock:
“His hand hit me quite hard on the inside thigh then moved up, real thud, hit me right in the nuts basically. It took my breath away.”
After the incident, the man stated that he pulled over and told the American actor “it fucking hurt, you can’t do that.” Spacey’s alleged response was to giggle.
In a depressing but familiar turn of events when it comes to sexual assault cases, the man was asked by the police why it had taken him a number of years to come forward, to which he gave responses we’ve heard a thousand times before from victims: he stated that he felt “embarrassed,” and because of Spacey’s stature and fame, was worried he’d face professional and personal repercussions that would affect his life further than the abuse already had. He said that the incidents had caused him to enter a bout of depression, as well as loading him with anxiety and stress.
Once the pre-recorded video had been played, the man was cross-examined by the prosecution. Throughout this process, he was hidden behind a curtain. Spacey denies all charges, and the case is set to continue.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.