Kevin Spacey calls himself "a big flirt" in sexual assault trial testimony

The jury in Kevin Spacey’s U.K. trial, in which he has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges of sexual assault, heard directly from the actor himself today. This is the first time Spacey has spoken in his own defense since the trial’s commencement two weeks ago, per The New York Times.

In his testimony, Spacey responded to accusations from four anonymous complainants who had already taken the stand to detail their experiences with the House Of Cards actor between 2001 and 2013. Spacey spent a great deal of time in London during this period, especially in his capacity as artistic director of the Old Vic Theater between 2004 and 2015. All four men were allegedly subjected to unwanted touching and sexual advances from Spacey, who in at least one instance is said to have performed oral sex on a complainant without his consent. In another, a complainant alleged that Spacey “grabbed his crotch so violently he almost ran off the road” (per the Associated Press).

Spacey addressed this latter allegation in his testimony by admitting that he was a “big flirt.” He characterized the relationship he shared with the complainant—a man he called “friendly and charming and flirtatious”—as “intimate” and “somewhat sexual,” adding that he was “crushed” by the accusation. Spacey claimed that he always respected the man’s boundaries, adding that he “never thought that (the man) I knew would… 20 years later stab me in the back.”

Spacey appeared “wistful” when recalling this relationship according to both AP and NYT, which also both allude to the “calm voice and earnest demeanor” with which he presented his testimony. Spacey also “occasionally joked with his legal representative, Patrick Gibbs,” per NYT.

Spacey went on to address testimony from a complainant that alleged the actor grabbed his genitals so hard that it felt “like a cobra coming out and getting hold,” saying that the man’s account was “madness” and “never happened.” He also addressed the fourth accuser, who alleged that Spacey performed oral sex on him without his consent, by saying that the two shared a “very nice and lovely” evening and that the man became “awkward and fumbling” and “hurriedly left” afterward, as if he regretted the encounter, per NYT.

In his prior testimony, the complainant had alleged that when he said “no,” Spacey “stopped and asked me to leave straight away. He said I shouldn’t talk to anyone about what had happened.” Afterward, he says he “felt very depressed about it all” and didn’t make his accusations public because it felt like a “knock to my masculinity,” and he was concerned that the assault “may have been [my] fault in some way.”