With closing statements being made, what did we learn from the Kevin Spacey trial at Southwark Crown Court?

The case, which began on June 28 2023, centres around allegations of historic offences committed against four men which are said to have taken place between 2001 and 2013. The charges against Spacey include repeated incidents of indecent and sexual assaults, and a more serious offence of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent, which carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

In the lead up and throughout the trial, Spacey has continuously denied the nine allegations through his lawyer, Patrick Gibb KC, with four alternative charges removed from the indictment in his sex abuse case earlier this week. Mr Justice Wall, the judge presiding the case, instructed the jury to “strike through” those counts for technical reasons, telling jurors “you will not be asked to return verdicts on any of those counts.”

The four alleged victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have each testified over the course of the last four weeks alongside their family and friends. The oldest complaint chronologically, which dates back to an unspecified year in the early 2000s, alleges that Spacey repeatedly touched the alleged victim’s genitalia and bottom over his clothing and put the man’s hand on his own genitalia. The court heard that on the final occasion, Spacey grabbed the man — who was driving — so hard on the crotch that he almost caused a car crash.

Once the closing arguments have been completed, it is then up to the jury selected for the case to determine whether, regardless of the dates and times of the allegations, whether the actor did indeed engage in acts of sexual misconduct, or if - much like in the case of Anthony Rapp in the US - there is insufficient evidence to prove that Spacey had committed the crimes he’s been on trial for.

What did we learn during the course of Kevin Spacey’s trial?

He is familiar with Sir Elton John and David Furnish

One of the more surprising moments of the near month-long case was the inclusion of both Sir Elton John and his partner, David Furnish, as witnesses for Kevin Spacey’s defence. Appearing via video call from Monaco, the pair testified on behalf of Kevin Spacey regarding an allegation he assaulted one of the men on their way to John’s annual White Tie and Tiara Ball.

However, Elton and David confirmed that Spacey had only attended their party once back in 2001 - with no record of him attending over any other years. “He arrived in white tie. He [flew] in on a private jet and came straight to the ball,” Sir Elton John told the court, and when the prosecution double-checked that Kevin flew on a private jet, Elton replied: “I don’t think he was wearing white tie on a commercial flight.”

The allegations are not limited to his time on the West End

While the jurors have been asked not to concentrate on the dates of the allegations but instead the crimes themselves, the timeline of events has raised questions about what position of power Kevin Spacey was in when the alleged offences occurred.

A number of the allegations seem to gravitate around the early 2000’s mark, when Spacey was the artistic director of The Old Vic in Bristol. There were initially mentions of his behaviour during his time on the West End during the production of “The Iceman Cometh,” but that was being performed in 1999 - so the allegations stem from his time as artistic director of the hallowed Bristol theatre.

He could have sex “all the time” and didn’t need to prey on those less powerful

Perhaps one of the more petulant comments made during Kevin Spacey’s time at the stand came when he mentioned that he could have sex “all the time,” but it was trust issues that led him not to have a monogamous, meaningful relationship with someone of the opposite sex.

It was this perspective that led the defence to accuse the four individuals of a potential “cash grab,” with a particularly terse exchange during a cross examination on whether he thought people were tempted by his approaches because of "who you are." Spacey responded “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".

“Men are entitled to exactly the same protection that a woman would be in law”

In her closing argument, the prosecution team led by Christine Agnew KC asked jurors if the allegations made by the four men were all just an effort to make money, or if those men who had never met each other until the case were all assaulted by Spacey during his time as the “golden boy of London theatre.”

“The glare of the spotlight when someone is internationally famous places another burden [on them],” she explained. “Kevin Spacey Fowler is and was a powerful man. Famous. Who would believe them? It would have ruined their lives.”

“Just because the complainants are men doesn’t mean they should have to put up with unwanted touching any more than women should,” she said emphatically. “Society possibly in 2023 is more sympathetic to women than it is to men in these circumstances. But why should these men put up with what happened?”

“Men are entitled to exactly the same protection that a woman would be in law”

“It Is Not a Crime to Have Sex, Even if You’re Famous”

In the closing argument for the defence, Patrick Gibb KC stated that the actions of Spacey were those found in a “consensual” relationship and that the actor never went any further than any alleged victim was comfortable with. He says the near-crash crotch grab, which was alleged to have taken place on the way to an event at Elton John’s Windsor home, never happened.

“It is easy to make up allegations against a man in Mr Spacey’s condition,” he said. “By which I mean a man who is promiscuous, a man who is not publicly out, although everyone in the business knows he’s gay. A man who wants to be just a normal guy, to drink beer and laugh and smoke weed and sit in the front [seat of a car] and spend time with younger people who he’s attracted to.”

“The reality is that false allegations, even apparently convincing false allegations, really do happen,” he said. “Not always, but really do sometimes happen, especially where fame and money and sex and secrets and shame and sexual confusion are all in the mix. It is not a crime to like sex and it is not a crime to have sex, even if you’re famous.” 

“And it is not a crime to have casual sex and it is not a crime to have a lot of sex and it is not a crime to have sex with someone of the same sex, because it’s 2023 and not 1823”