Kevin Spacey told a man he met in a pub to “be cool, be cool” as he kissed his neck and grabbed his crotch just hours after meeting him, a court has heard.
The alleged victim told police officers that when he moved Spacey away, saying he “did not bat for that team”, the Hollywood actor appeared “panicked”.
Jurors heard evidence from the man’s police interview at Southwark Crown Court today ahead of the complainant giving evidence to the court on Wednesday. He will be the second accuser to answer questions during the trial.
Spacey, 63, is facing 12 sexual offence charges in relation to four men which allegedly took place between 2001 and 2013, all of which he vehemently denies.
Read more: Kevin Spacey trial – as it happens in court
An artist’s sketch of Kevin Spacey in court earlier in the trial. Pic: Elizabeth Cook/PA
In the second accuser’s police interview, the man said he met Spacey at a countryside pub and was later invited, with others, back to a property at which the actor was staying.
Here, he accidentally let Spacey’s dog out of a room, the court heard, and it was this that preceded the alleged sexual assault.
Accuser says Spacey looked ‘panicked’ when he moved him away
After telling the police officer conducting the interview that he apologised to the actor for the dog momentarily escaping, the complainant said: “At which point he came towards me in a huggy motion and said ‘don’t worry about it, it is cool, it is cool’.
“We did an awkward man hug as I call it – he hugged me, I did a sort of pat on the back type of thing. At that point he kissed my neck twice and grabbed my crotch. He said the words, ‘be cool, be cool’, twice.”
The man then told the officer that he put his arm between them to move Spacey away. “I said, ‘I am sorry man, I don’t bat for that team’,” the complainant said in his interview.
The alleged victim said that after he rejected Spacey, the star had an “immediate panicked look on his face” before he left the room.
The complainant told police he swiftly left the property and called his father to pick him up, becoming “teary”.
Asked how he felt about the alleged incident, he said it “shook” him and that it was “unwanted”. He added that he has since “stopped ever watching or purchasing anything [Spacey] had ever been involved in”.
However, “the next morning I… got on with things”, he told the officer.
Alleged incident became a ‘joke’ – which ‘helped’
The man said he became “quite open” with people about the alleged incident and began to feel that while it was an “aggressive come-on”, he had not been “harmed”.
He told the police officer that over time the alleged incident became more of an “anecdote” and a “running joke” among friends – that it was joked his “claim to fame” was that “the same hand that held an Oscar” had grabbed his crotch, the court heard.
The accuser told the officer that treating it in this way “helped”.
He also gave details of the events leading up to the alleged incident, saying Spacey had been drinking double Jack Daniels and Coke before driving about six people to the property he was staying at.
At the start of the interview, the man told the officer that he eventually called the non-emergency police number when he saw other allegations come out against Spacey in the news.
The charges against Spacey
On Tuesday, the court also heard evidence from the brother and two former partners of the first alleged victim, who all told jurors that the complainant had told them about alleged sexual assaults by Spacey, and said any such incidents would not have been consensual.
Spacey pleaded not guilty in July 2022 to four charges of sexual assault and one of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
In January this year, he pleaded not guilty to seven further charges – three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
The trial continues – and jurors will hear from the second alleged victim tomorrow.