Kevin Spacey Pleads Not Guilty to Four Counts of Sexual Assault in UK

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Actor Kevin Spacey plead not guilty to sexual assault charges on Thursday during a hearing in the UK at London’s Central Criminal Court. The charges involve incidents Spacey allegedly had with three men over 10 years ago.

The former House of Cards star denied four counts of sexual assault and one count of engaging in sexual activity without consent.

Spacey directed a play called Complicit at London’s Old Vic theatre between the years of 2004 and 2015, the time period in which these events allegedly occurred. The Old Vic revealed that it received 20 personal testimonies alleging Spacey engaged in inappropriate behavior during the years he was in residence.

One of the Oscar-winning actor’s accusers, Harry Dreyfuss, alleges that Spacey inappropriately touched him in 2008, while his father was starring in the play.

The Crown Prosecution Service authorized the charges against Spacey earlier this year. The actor decided to voluntarily appear before the court in order to defend his case, which he did on Thursday pleading not guilty to the charges.

In a court appearance last month, an attorney for Spacey claimed that he “strenuously denies all allegations.”

The actor was told that he would not face a trial until next year, as Judge Mark Wall set a start date of June 6, 2023. The trial will likely last for three to four weeks. The judge also said during Thursday’s brief hearing that Spacey will have a pre-trial hearing early next year.

Spacey was granted bail and permitted to return to the United States last month and will remain on unconditional bail for the foreseeable future.

The actor’s storied acting career came to a halt in 2017 when he was accused by actor Anthony Rapp of assaulting him at a party when Rapp was a teenager. Spacey continues to deny these allegations as well, although he faces a civil sexual assault lawsuit from Rapp in U.S. federal court in New York.