Kevin Spacey trial hears young actors were aware of ‘rumours’

Young actors were aware of “rumours” about Kevin Spacey’s alleged sexual advances on young men while he worked in the UK, a court heard.

The Oscar-winning actor, 63, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of a string of sex attacks on four men between 2001 and 2013.

On Tuesday, friends of one alleged victim said he told them he and Spacey had a few drinks before he fell asleep and woke up to find the Hollywood star performing a sex act on him.

One friend told jurors there was “always chatter” about Spacey “chatting younger lads up” and it was “a bit of a thing that we would joke about as young men”.

But when Spacey rang the alleged victim, an aspiring actor at the time, to ask him to join him for a drink, his friends were not worried “to a point where we thought it would turn into anything more serious”, jurors heard.

Another friend said the alleged victim had confided in her soon after that Spacey was being “inappropriate” and it had been “really awkward” but did not go into detail about what happened at the time.

She told jurors: “There were a lot of rumours going around… I definitely was saying if anything happened you should say. Don’t keep it to yourself.”

Other friends said he had looked “grey” when they first saw him after the alleged attack.

One friend told jurors: “I remember him coming round about midday. He was not himself. He was very confident, always cracking jokes, very good at holding a conversation.

“He came in and he just looked grey and gave one-word answers.

“We were all very excited because he had come back from this, we were asking questions and making jokes and he was not himself.

“He gave one-word answers saying they had had some drinks and went back to Spacey’s flat, that was about it really.”

At a birthday celebration almost a decade later, the alleged victim then told friends in detail about what he says happened.

One friend told jurors: “He seemed agitated and upset like he couldn’t quite compute it. I don’t know where it came from, I imagine someone asked him about it.

“He looked deeply upset. This is the first time he had mentioned it (the alleged attack) to me.

“Back that weekend he said he felt so embarrassed and mortified about what happened. That’s why he didn’t say.”

Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC asked: “Did he say anything to you about the impact it had on him?”

He replied: “He said it had destroyed him. It was quite hyperbolic. He mentioned he was still affected by the incident.

“He said ‘it has destroyed me, it has messed me up’ or something like that.”

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.

The two-time Academy Award winner also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

The trial continues.