Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey walked out of the London court a free man on his 64th birthday on Wednesday, after he was acquitted on all sexual assault charges.
Spacey cried as the verdicts were read after the jury deliberated for 12 hours. Afterward, the actor spoke outside court saying he was “humbled” and “enormously grateful to the jury.” His fans cheered as Spacey left the court.
He was charged with nine counts of sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity. Spacey had testified during the course of the trial, as had the four men who had made the accusations against the actor. The former ‘House of Cards’ actor fought the case for the past four and a half weeks at Southwark Crown Court in London.
“I would like to say that I am 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. And I am humbled by the outcome today. I also want to thank the staff inside this courthouse, the security and all those who took care of us every single day, my legal team … for being here every day and that’s all I have to say for the moment. Thank you very much,” Spacey said outside the court.
However, the road back to a normal life and career for Spacey is still a long way off, as pointed out by Harvey Proctor, a British former Conservative lawmaker who has faced false allegations of child abuse and murder in the past.
“Kevin Spacey has been found not guilty of all nine charges of sexual assault against him. The torment Mr Spacey has endured will not end with the conclusion of the trial or the nine ‘not guilty’ verdicts. He will never get over this. I wish him, and his loved ones, well,” he tweeted after the verdict.
What’s next for Kevin Spacey?
Before becoming a subject of a #MeToo movement six years ago, Spacey had won two Oscars for his performances in American Beauty and The Usual Suspects. He also has won a Tony Award for Lost In Yonkers and Olivier Award for best actor for The Iceman Cometh. He also picked up a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actor’s Guild Award for his memorable role in House of Cards.
Just before the bombshell sex allegations surfaced against him, he was enjoying the peak of his career playing Francis Underwood, the famous anti-hero, in Netflix’ then-top series, House Of Cards.
His glittering career came crashing down after he was accused of sexual assault by multiple alleged victims. He was sacked from House Of Card, which concluded its last season without his character. She was edited out of the Sir Ridley Scott movie All The Money In The World.
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Despite all that, he remained determined to make a comeback. “In ten years, it won’t mean anything. My work will longer than I will, and that’s what will be remembered,” he said in an interview.
Spacey now faces the mammoth task of rebuilding his career. Over the last few years, he has also grappled with financial ruin as his defense in the British court cost him over $1.2 million and two years ago, he was told to pay $33 million to the producers of House of Cards as his sexual misconduct amounted to a breach of contract.
“I have got no money coming in and I have had a lot of legal bills… and I have not paid it all off and I still owe money,” Spacey one said. The actor sold his Los Angeles mansion for $11 million before the scandal broke.
It remains unclear if he will be reinstated in the Old Vic, a London theater that Spacey had headed for 11 years.
