Some A-list actors are calling for Kevin Spacey to return to Hollywood after he was successfully banished from the trade in 2017 when allegations of sexual assault and misconduct first emerged.
Among Spacey’s supporters are Liam Neeson, Sharon Stone, Stephen Fry and F. Murray Abraham, who informed The Telegraph that Spacey was unfairly cancelled. Their statements have been made within the wake of the latest airing of a two-part Channel 4 documentary referred to as Spacey Unmasked, which included new allegations of Spacey’s sexual misconduct from beforehand unheard accusers, together with a declare that Spacey groped a fellow House of Cards actor.
“Kevin is a good man and a man of character,” Neeson informed The Telegraph. “He’s sensitive, articulate and non-judgmental, with a terrific sense of humour. He is also one of our finest artists in the theatre and on camera. Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly.”
“I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will,” Stone informed the U.Okay. newspaper.
She added that it was clear aspiring actors “wanted and want to be around him” and referred to as it “terrible” that they “are blaming him for not being able to come to terms with themselves for using him and negotiating with themselves because they didn’t get their secret agendas.”
The which means of her remark is unclear, however appears to counsel that Stone believes Spacey’s accusers have been “using” the actor and had “secret agendas.”
Spacey’s first accuser, actor Anthony Rapp, recognized for starring in Star Trek: Discovery, alleged that Spacey molested him in 1986 when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. A New York jury dominated in Spacey’s favour in Rapp’s civil lawsuit in opposition to the older actor in 2022, discovering that Spacey didn’t sexually abuse him.
A 12 months later, in 2023, Spacey was acquitted on all costs of sexual assault throughout a four-week trial in London that included allegations from 4 males. Three had accused Spacey of aggressively grabbing their crotches whereas a fourth claimed that he awoke to the actor performing oral intercourse on him after passing out in his house.
As new allegations emerged in opposition to him as a part of the Channel 4 documentary, Spacey commented on-line that he felt his courtroom wins had sufficiently absolved him.
“There’s a proper channel to handle allegations against me and it’s not Channel 4,” he wrote. “Each time I have been given the time and a proper forum to defend myself, the allegations have failed under scrutiny and I have been exonerated.”
Also taking purpose on the Channel 4 documentary, Fry informed the Telegraph that he felt the accusations in Spacey Unmasked didn’t quantity to crimes.
The U.Okay. actor and TV host acknowledged that Spacey had been “both ‘clumsy’ and ‘inappropriate’ on many occasions,” however to “continue to harass and hound him, to devote a whole documentary to accusations that simply do not add up to crimes … how can that be considered proportionate and justified?”
“Surely it is wrong to continue to batter a reputation on the strength of assertion and rhetoric rather than evidence and proof?” Fry added. “Unless I’m missing something, I think he has paid the price.”
Abraham, who gained an Oscar for his function as Salieri in Amadeus, informed the Telegraph that he counts Spacey as a buddy, saying, “I vouch for him unequivocally. Who are these vultures who attack a man who has publicly accepted his responsibility for certain behaviour, unlike so many others?”
“He is a fine man, I stand with him, and let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” Abraham added.
Abraham was fired from the Apple TV sequence Mythic Quest after being accused of sexual misconduct.
In his personal interview with The Telegraph, Spacey mentioned he felt that he was the sufferer of a “rush to judgment” because the #MeToo motion grew within the wake of allegations made in opposition to Harvey Weinstein.
Since 2017, when the primary claims of sexual misconduct emerged in opposition to him, Spacey has labored on a handful of small tasks — a far cry from his profession earlier than the allegations have been made.
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