Kevin Spacey pleads not guilty to sexual assault charges
Kevin Spacey pleaded not guilty to four sexual assault charges in court on Thursday.
The American Beauty actor appeared at London's Old Bailey and pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
Spacey, 62, was granted unconditional bail and the trial, which is expected to take three to four weeks, was scheduled to begin on 6 June 2023.
The first two counts relate to allegations he sexually assaulted a man, who is now in his 40s, in London in March 2005. In addition, he was charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent on a man, now in his 30s, in London in August 2008. The fourth sexual assault charge relates to another man, now in his 30s, in April 2013 in Gloucestershire.
The charges were authorised by Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in May, but Spacey was only formally charged after he voluntarily appeared in the U.K. to answer to them last month.
Spacey told Good Morning America in a statement in May that he felt "confident" about proving his innocence.
The Oscar-winning actor fell from grace in late 2017 when Rent star Anthony Rapp claimed Spacey had made sexual advances toward him when he was only 14 years old, following which more than 20 people made allegations of sexual assault, harassment or misconduct and inappropriate behaviour against him.
Spacey has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct and the majority of legal actions against him, apart from a lawsuit filed by Rapp in 2020, have been either dropped or dismissed.
His trial in the Rapp case is due to begin in New York in October.
