Kevin Spacey claims accuser is after money in heated cross-examination

ITV News' Carolyn Sim recounts a heated exchange between Kevin Spacey and prosecutors at Southwark Crown Court

Kevin Spacey had a heated exchange with prosecutors in court this morning, calling their case "weak" and accusing one alleged victim of being after "money, money and then money".

The Oscar-winning actor faces 12 charges concerning four men, including sexual assault and indecent assault, which are alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013.

Spacey, who denies all wrongdoing, spent a second morning giving evidence on Friday - this time to answer questions from the prosecution at Southwark Crown Court.

The cross-examination became heated and temperamental, with the judge having to interrupt on several occasions to keep the questioning on track.

After describing the accusation of an alleged victim he met in a West End theatre in the mid-2000s as “absolute b******s”, prosecutor Christine Agnew KC responded: “Because that’s exactly where you did grab him, isn’t it?” “Really?” Spacey replied before turning to the judge to ask: “Did he accuse me of grabbing his b******s?” After being asked by the judge to answer the question, the defendant eventually said: “I did not.”

Miss Agnew asked Spacey if the so-called "crotch-grab", of which three of them men accuse him, had become a "trademark" of his, and something he would “normally do to someone you had met for the first time”.

The actor denied this and said: “Let me put it this way, it is the term ‘grabbing a crotch’ or ‘groping a crotch’ that I object to.”

Spacey, 63, who said his actions amounted more to a "gentle touch", said he “definitely misread” signs from one man who rejected alleged advances at an expensive property he was staying at in the Cotswolds in the early 2010s.

The actor said he had “consensual interactions” with two other complainants – one who drove him to a lavish showbiz party in the early 2000s and the aspiring actor.

Miss Agnew asked Spacey: “Do you think that you might have misinterpreted what they were doing or saying?”

The actor replied: “If they went further than they wanted… they did not let me know that.” Spacey said it “seems that they regretted what they did at a later time” and denied the suggestion people normally did what he wanted them to do because of his fame and status.

Pressed on whether he thought people were tempted by his approaches because of "who you are", the defendant said: “I hope they liked me because they liked me, not because of who I am.” When asked why one man would claim Spacey grabbed his crotch in a West End theatre while they were alone together for less than a minute, the actor replied: "Money, money and then money".

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Asked if he ever felt lonely and would "reach out to people sexually in order to ease that burden", Spacey replied: "Welcome to life. Yes, yes I did."

The defendant said he was "open" about the times he had been "promiscuous", adding: "It doesn't make me a bad person."

Miss Agnew asked: “You didn’t find it easier to pick up people because of who you are?” Spacey answered: “I found it harder to trust people because of who I was.” The actor added: “I am sure if I wanted to I could have had sex all the time, but I didn’t.”

Miss Agnew KC said Spacey was “essentially the golden boy of the London theatre scene” at the time of the allegations.

“People who you assaulted were unlikely to say anything, I’m going to suggest to you, because of who you were,” she added. Spacey told the jury that he did not have a “power wand” that he used to get people to go to bed with him, adding: “I respect when people tell me they are not interested.” Asked if he agrees whether he is a powerful man, he said: “I would agree that I have used the position that I gratefully found myself in to help others to create art, to try to bring the Old Vic back to its magical days. Responding to allegations made by an aspiring actor, who accused Spacey of having “drugged” him and performing a sex act on him while he was asleep in his flat in the late 2000s, the star said: “We were in a romantic situation. “I don’t know who made the first move, but we were consensually together in a romantic situation. “He did not fall asleep and I did not perform (a sex act) on him while he was asleep, despite what he has shockingly accused me of.”

When Miss Agnew suggested the complainant was asleep, Spacey said: “That’s your theory.” “Well that is the prosecution case,” the prosecutor said, to which Spacey replied: “And it’s a weak one.” When asked if he was attracted to straight men, the Hollywood star said: “How would I know if they were straight or not?” The defendant, standing trial under his full name Kevin Spacey Fowler, was labelled a “sexual bully” when proceedings began last month. He 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.