Kevin Spacey Hit With Sexual Assault Charges in U.K.

Kevin Spacey has been charged with a series of sexual assault offenses against three men in the U.K.

The beleaguered actor, 62, has been charged with four counts of sexual assault, as well as another sexual offense, according to The Sun.

The newspaper said the Oscar-winning star is alleged to have carried out the offenses between 2005 and 2013 in London and Gloucestershire.

Rosemary Ainslie, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Special Crime Division, said in a statement: "The CPS has authorized criminal charges against Kevin Spacey, 62, for four counts of sexual assault against three men.

"He has also been charged with causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The charges follow a review of the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police in its investigation.

"The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr. Spacey are active and that he has the right to a fair trial."

Spacey was interviewed under caution by the Metropolitan Police regarding the allegations back in 2019. The allegations date as far back as 1996.

The actor saw a dramatic fall from grace in October 2017, when Buzzfeed published an explosive interview with Anthony Rapp, who accused Spacey of "trying to seduce" him at a party in 1986 when he was aged 14 and the actor was 26.

The following day, Spacey released a statement on Twitter, in which he claimed to have no memory of the alleged incident, while also offering Rapp an apology.

Having previously been private about his sexual orientation, the actor publicly came out as gay in his response to the allegations.

As more men came forward with similar allegations in the days that followed, Netflix announced plans to suspend production on House of Cards, "to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew."

The actor announced, through his publicist, that he was "taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment."

He was soon dropped by his publicist and agent, and from the cast of House of Cards. Netflix announced in November 2017 that it would no longer release Gore, a film about writer Gore Vidal, starring Spacey as the literary icon.

Spacey was also removed from the film All the Money in the World, which had been already shot, and replaced by Christopher Plummer.

In January 2018, police in London announced investigations into three accusations leveled against the actor in the U.K.

In April of that year, it was confirmed that prosecutors in Los Angeles were reviewing a historical assault accusation against Spacey, alleged to have taken place in West Hollywood in 1992. By September, legal proceedings halted in one case due to California's statute of limitations.

In December 2018, he was charged with sexually assaulting a teenager at a bar in Massachusetts in 2016.

The actor appeared in a Massachusetts court in January 2019 to enter a not-guilty plea, in response to indecent assault and battery charges in connection to the 2016 allegations.

The same accuser sued Spacey for unspecified damages in June, alleging the star bought him alcoholic drinks when he was 18 and groped his genitals without consent.

One month later, the complainant dropped his civil action against Spacey, who had denied the allegations.

Also in July 2018, criminal charges against Spacey, stemming from the same Massachusetts accusations, were dropped after the accuser declined to testify about a missing phone, which Spacey's lawyers said had information that would prove his innocence.

In September 2020, Rapp sued Spacey for sexual assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Rapp filed his suit under the Child Victims Act, which extends New York's statute of limitations for civil suits related to such cases.

He was joined in the lawsuit by another man, who requested to remain anonymous and accused the actor of sexually abusing him in 1983 when he was aged 14 and Spacey was 24.

Spacey's lawyers appeared in a Manhattan court seeking to have Rapp's allegations against the actor thrown out. Via his lawyers, Spacey said that he "flatly denies" the incident ever took place.