Kevin Spacey's lawyer praises Elton John for risking 'wrath of internet'

Kevin Spacey. (PA)

Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey was “tried by social media” and “cancelled” after he was accused of sexual assaults, a court has heard.

The 63-year-old, standing trial under his full name Kevin Spacey Fowler, is charged with nine sexual offences concerning four men which were were allegedly committed between 2001 and 2013.

The two-time Academy Award winner leaned forward in his chair in the dock and watched intently through the glass as his defence barrister Patrick Gibbs KC gave a closing speech at Southwark Crown Court in London on Thursday.

“What the defence suggests is that three people have lied and they have lied in ways and for reasons which, ultimately, will only ever be known to themselves,” said Mr Gibbs, who suggested the fourth complainant was intoxicated.

He discussed topics including “fame, shame, money and memory” and told jurors: “It’s not a crime to like sex, even if you’re famous and it’s not a crime to have sex, even if you’re famous, and it’s not a crime to have casual sex.

“And it’s not a crime to have sex with someone of the same sex because it’s 2023 not 1823.”

He challenged the Crown’s claim that there was a “pattern of similarity” between the accusers because three claim Spacey “grabbed” them by the crotch, a term Spacey previously told the court he “objected” to.

Mr Gibbs said that: “With each allegation that’s discredited, the possibility, the reality, that false allegations, even apparently convincing false allegations, really do happen.

“Especially where fame, money, sex, secrets, shame and sexual confusion are all in the mix.”

He told the jury it was “easy” to lie convincingly, especially when it is about someone such as Spacey, who he described as: “A man who is promiscuous, not publicly out, although everyone in the businesses knows he’s gay, who wants to be just a normal guy, or at least some of the time he does – to drink beer and laugh and smoke weed and sit in the front and spend time with younger people who he’s attracted to.”

He added: “It’s not my life, it’s not your life, perhaps it’s a bit of an odd life but it’s a life that makes you an easy target when the internet turns against you and you’re tried by social media.

“That’s when these claims were taken to the police, when it was, I suggest, only too easy to do and the prospects of a pay-off from the bandwagon were at their most irresistible.”

Reflecting on the evidence Spacey gave during the trial, he urged them to “filter” out his celebrity and “try to get through to the real person behind that”.

Mr Gibbs suggested jurors should dismiss as “fiction” the allegation put to them by the Crown that Spacey made a man “almost come off the road” after an alleged “painful” crotch grab as he drove the actor to a lavish showbiz party at Sir Elton John’s Windsor home in the early 2000s.

He said most of the man’s claims are “so vague” and “all happened in private” that they are “impossible to contradict” and “what you’re left with is one person’s words against another years later”.

“But he did advance one testable allegation and you have seen it tested and my submission to you about it is that it turned out to be a complete fabrication,” he added.

“It is that dramatic centrepiece of the Crown’s case about (this complainant). It is the final shocking episode. It’s the crotch grab.

“And that’s turned out on the evidence, I suggest, to be a fiction.”

He said this alleged lie was designed to “dramatise and dignify a reimagining long after the events of all that really happened between those two men”.

He added: “But the Crown now say about that allegation, well dates don’t matter, they say. And my retort is well they would say that because none of the dates they have sequentially alighted upon and invited you to be sure about work.

“Every single date has been disproven.”

He praised Sir Elton and his husband David Furnish for risking the “wrath of the internet” to be called as defence witnesses after they gave evidence via video link from Monaco on Monday.

He said they “stood up and were counted in defence of a man who was universally cancelled” and added “you need look no further for bravery that that, I submit”.

Spacey pleaded not guilty in January to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

He also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

A further charge of indecent assault, an alternative count, was added mid-trial – taking the total number of alleged offences listed on the indictment to 13.

On Wednesday, the four indecent assault charges, which were all alternative counts, were struck off by the judge, due to a “legal technicality” and not as a result of the prosecution abandoning any allegation.

The jury was directed to concentrate on what happened and whether it was a crime, and not be concerned with precise dates when things happened.

The trial continues.

Four charges against Kevin Spacey dropped

On Wednesday, the four indecent assault charges on the indictment against Kevin Spacey, which were alternative counts, were struck off by the judge, due to a “legal technicality” and not as a result of the prosecution abandoning any allegation.

The jury was directed to concentrate on what happened and whether it was a crime, and not be concerned with precise dates when things happened.

The Hollywood star, standing trial under his full name Kevin Spacey Fowler, is charged with nine sexual offences concerning four men which are alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013. He denies the charges.

Spacey’s accusers are “no longer prepared to be the secret keeper for someone who treated them so badly”, Southwark Crown Court also heard.

In a closing speech on Wednesday, prosecutor Christine Agnew KC said the case involves an “enormous power imbalance” and a man who is “used to getting his own way” taking advantage of that.

She questioned the two-time Academy Award winner’s claim that his accusers were “motivated by money” and suggested the trial was a result of his “aggressive, oppressive and intimidatory behaviour”.

Ms Agnew said his alleged offending had left the men feeling “diminished” and “worthless”, adding: “There is no doubt that he is a very famous and lauded actor.

“He is undoubtedly someone who is kind to those he chooses to be kind to.

“History is littered with those who that are benevolent to some and cruel to others.”

Ms Agnew said it is “not simply a strength-in-numbers case” against Spacey but that of “four separate men” who told friends and family, the police and then the court their stories in a bid for justice.

She said “Mr Spacey Fowler was and is a powerful man, he was so famous who would believe them?”

Ms Agnew said “men are entitled to exactly the same protection that a woman would be in law”, and added: “Why on earth should these men put up with what they say has happened to them?”

Furnish asked whether celebrities could ask not to be pictured at balls

Giving evidence via videolink, David furnish was asked if it was possible that a celebrity attending one of the couple's balls could not be pictured.

Furnish told the court: “It never happened. It was understood we were promoting a charity involving the eradication of stigma surrounding disease. For celebrities wanting to come to our event, it was always understood they needed to be photographed.”

He added: “To have a star of the magnitude of Kevin Spacey and to go to OK! and say he didn’t want to be photographed, that would be an impossible situation for the foundation to be in.”

Spacey pictured arriving at court on Monday. (PA)

Elton John says he doesn't remember Mini being stored at his home

Sir Elton John has told Kevin Spacey’s trial that the star went straight to a ball at his house after flying in on a private jet, then bought a Mini Cooper at the event and stayed the night, Lucas Cumiskey and Ken Brown reported for PA.

The singer, who gave evidence via video link from Monaco, was called as a defence witness in the Oscar-winning actor’s trial at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday.

He denies 12 charges concerning four men, including sexual assault and indecent assault, which are alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC asked Sir Elton and his husband David Furnish, who gave evidence just before him, about when the actor had attended a fundraising event at their home in Windsor.

Spacey is alleged to have made a man “almost come off the road” after an alleged “painful” crotch grab as he drove the actor to the lavish showbiz party.

Spacey previously told jurors how he stored “the most expensive” Mini Cooper “ever” in Sir Elton’s garage.

Sir Elton said the actor attended the event in the early 2000s and stayed the night but said he could not remember him visiting the property after that.

Ms Agnew asked Sir Elton if he had a recollection of Spacey at the event.

Sir Elton said: “Yes, because he arrived in white tie. He was on a flight, he came on a private jet and he came straight to the ball.”

On whether he came straight from the private jet, he added: “I assume so, yes.”

Ms Agnew added: “Do you remember that at that ball he bought a Mini?”

After Sir Elton confirmed his recollection, she added: “And do you remember that that Mini was kept at your home for quite some time?”

The Rocket Man star added: “That I don’t remember but it’s possible because it was his car and he was going somewhere else.

“I have no recollection of it.”

Asked if Spacey visited their home again after the ball, Sir Elton said: “At the night that he attended the ball, he stayed over night at our house.”

Pressed again on whether he had returned after the event, he added: “I can’t remember him coming after that, no.”

Sir Elton said he did not remember the arrangements for the Mini being moved from his house.

The trial continues.

Singer Sir Elton John appeared by videolink in a London court on Monday to give evidence at Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey's sexual assault trial.
Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty at London's Southwark Crown Court to 12 charges of sexual offences allegedly committed against four men between 2001 and 2013.

The offences allegedly took place at a time when he was mainly living and working in Britain, including from 2003 as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.

Music superstar Sir Elton John has appeared as a witness for the defence at Kevin Spacey's sex assault trial.

Elton John and David Furnish have taken the stand as part of Kevin Spacey’s defence in the actor’s trial for sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court. Both men are giving evidence via videolink from Monaco.