EXCLUSIVE: Kevin Spacey Gives First Interview Since Scandal

Actor Kevin Spacey, 63, says he hopes to make a comeback following his trial over alleged sexual offenses in London, which begins on June 28. "I know that there are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London. The second that happens, they're ready to move forward," Spacey told ZEITmagazin.

The two-time Oscar winner spoke with ZEITmagazin for the first time about how his life has changed since several men accused him of sexual assault in 2017. When those accusations became public, Netflix dropped him from "House of Cards," and director Ridley Scott removed him from the movie "All the Money in the World," refilming all the scenes in which Spacey had appeared. "It's a time in which a lot of people are very afraid that if they support me, they will be canceled," Spacey told ZEITmagazin. He is doubtful he can ever rehabilitate his reputation in the media. He has even started writing, but says he has no intention of delving into his own experience of facing accusations. "I'm not trying to even the score," he says. "I have no interest in fighting something that's not worth fighting against."

Kevin Spacey is one of the most famous people to have faced charges as part of the MeToo debate. The four-week criminal proceedings in London will focus on 12 counts: Four men have accused him of sexual assault, while two of them claim that he engaged in non-consensual sex with them. The incidents allegedly took place between 2001 and 2013. At the preliminary hearing, Spacey denied all charges.

"The moment scrutiny is applied, these things fall apart," Spacey told ZEITmagazin. "That's what happened in the Rapp trial, and that's what will happen in this case." Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of having picked him up, placed him on his bed and climbed on top of him in 1986. Last October, Spacey was acquitted of those charges in court proceedings in New York.
He says he used to throw himself into one project after the next to push aside his internal troubles of dealing with being gay. "Part of me was deeply unhappy," he says. Until the accusations leveled by Rapp, Spacey had denied rumors that he was gay.

Assessing the scandal, he says: "In 10 years, it won't mean anything. My work will live longer than I will, and that's what will be remembered."

Technical note: The quotes from the subjects interviewed in this story are not translations, they are the original English quotes.

Hamburg, June 14, 2023

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