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Kevin Spacey told a man he’d met at a pub to “be cool” while kissing his neck and grabbing his crotch without the man’s consent, a court heard during day three on Tuesday, July 4, of the actor’s ongoing criminal sexual misconduct trial in London.
As the BBC reports, the court heard the anonymous man’s recorded police interview on Tuesday, with the man detailing having met Spacey at a pub he worked at hours before the alleged incident. The man told Spacey he was meeting friends at another pub later that day, and he saw the actor there as well. The man and the friends went back to where Spacey was staying for drinks, when at one point as he was looking for a coat, Spacey came up and hugged him.
“We did an awkward man-hug. He hugged me, I did a sort of pat on the back type of thing,” the man said, per the BBC. “At that point he kissed my neck twice and grabbed my crotch. He said the words ‘be cool, be cool’ twice.”
The man put his arm between the two of them and pushed Spacey against a wall, telling the actor that he “doesn’t bat for that team,” he said in the recording. Spacey looked panicked the man said, and he left the room. As The Independent notes, the man left the property “a bit teary” after the alleged incident.
The day before, the court had heard similar allegations from another accuser, who alleged that Spacey had groped him numerous times, including one incident in which Spacey allegedly grabbed the man’s crotch while he was driving, forcing him off the road, as the BBC noted.
Spacey faces 12 counts of sexual misconduct-related charges including sexual assault. The incidents, tied to claims from four different men, would’ve occurred over a 12-year period from 2001 and 2013. Spacey has pleaded not guilty and denies the allegations. During the trial’s opening statements last week, prosecutor Christine Agnew called Spacey “a sexual bully” who “delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable.”
This isn’t the first trial Spacey has faced over sexual misconduct claims; last October, the actor scored a major victory when he was found not liable for battery in a civil suit tied to allegations from Anthony Rapp, one of the first people to publicly accuse Spacey.
The criminal trial will continue on Wednesday.
