Kevin Spacey hits back at new claims in TV documentary
Producer hopes show will spark a ‘#MeToo moment for men’
One of the producers of a Channel 4 documentary that contains fresh claims that Kevin Spacey “behaved inappropriately” with men says it will be broadcast as planned tomorrow, despite public denials from the actor this weekend.
Dorothy Byrne, a former head of news and current affairs at the television channel, told the Observer that she hopes the new two-part programme, Spacey Unmasked, will prompt “a #MeToo moment for men” and start a wider discussion about standards of behaviour in working situations.
“We’re going ahead,” said Byrne. “I’ve made a lot of programmes over decades about women suffering inappropriate behaviour, so this has been a very interesting project to work on. I do feel that it’s a #MeToo moment for men. Lots of things that were done to women 50 years ago are still being done to men, many of whom feel that they have to put up with it. Employees now know to look out for this kind of behaviour, but they tend to assume it’s going to be a woman at risk.”
The documentary makers say it will show claims from several men “regarding events they say took place between 1976 and 2013” .
Last year, after a London criminal trial, the actor was found not guilty of nine sexual offences, including sexual assault charges and a charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent, alleged to have occurred between 2001 and 2013. He also won a US civil lawsuit in October 2022, after being accused of an unwanted sexual advance at a party in 1986.
Addressing the new claims of inappropriate behaviour, Byrne said: “In the past it was often thought to be homophobic to call this kind of male behaviour out, but I would argue it is a homophobic attitude to think this behaviour is something gay men accept. It’s not true.”
Spacey, 64, tells the journalist Dan Wootton that he strongly denies the claims, saying that he will be “no longer speechless”, in an interview put out on the X social media platform. The actor also expresses sorrow and irritation that he is having to defend himself after recent public exonerations.
Spacey was the artistic director of London’s Old Vic theatre for 11 years, as well as being an established, Oscar- winning film and TV star, perhaps best known for his roles in The Usual Suspects and the drama series House of Cards.
“I take full responsibility for my past behaviour and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologise to anyone who’s made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me,” he tells Wootton, adding “...I’ve clearly hooked up with some men who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me… But there was no conversation with me, it was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail, because I wasn’t in on the deal.”
He also tells Wootton that he sometimes flirted and “hooked up” with other actors, conceding he made some “clumsy” approaches to men who “turned out” not to be interested. “But I was not employing them, I was not their boss, I was oftentimes just swimming in for an hour here or there as a well-known actor to lend support... to answer questions.
“That may not have been the best decision, and it is not one I would do today, but it happened… It wasn’t illegal, and nor has it ever been alleged to have been illegal.”