Popular Hollywood actor and producer, Kevin Spacey has come under fire been charged with four counts of sexual assault in the United Kingdom.
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed on Thursday that the offences involved three men.
Spacey, 62, was charged after evidence was reviewed following complaints between 2005 and 2013.
Rosemary Ainslie, CPS Special Crime Division Head said the Service “authorized criminal charges for four counts of sexual assault against three men”. In a release, she disclosed Spacey has been charged with “causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent”.
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Ainslie announced that the evidence earlier gathered was rechecked by the Metropolitan Police.
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against Mr Spacey are active and that he has the right to a fair trial”, the statement reads.
The incidents are alleged to have taken place in London and Gloucestershire.
The first charge was about an alleged sexual assault in London in March 2005.
The second alleged victim claimed to have been assaulted in London in August 2008.
The third complainant relates to an alleged assault in Gloucestershire in April 2013. Spacey began his career in the 1980s as a stage actor and rose to fame and wealth. He has won two Oscars and other notable awards.
The producers of Peter Five Eight, a new thriller starring Kevin Spacey, have responded to the charges of sexual assault brought against the actor on Thursday.
“While it’s unfortunate that increased negative press is timed with Kevin returning to work,” the statement reads, “it’s also to be expected. There are those who wish for him not to act, but they are outnumbered by fans worldwide who await an artist they have enjoyed for decades returning to the screen.”
The statement was issued by the backers of the mystery thriller – which has been shopped at the Cannes Market over the past week – and was obtained by the Hollywood Reporter.
On Thursday, the Crown Prosecution Service authorised criminal charges against Spacey for four counts of sexual assault against three men. The men are now in their 30s and 40s and the alleged incidents date from 2005 to 2013.
The development follows a review of evidence gathered by the Metropolitan police in its previous investigation into the actor. He can only be formally charged if he enters England or Wales.
Spacey, a two-time Oscar winner, was artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London between 2004 and 2015. It was in 2017, as the #MeToo movement grew, that sexual-assault allegations were first publicly raised against him.
He was dropped from the lead role in Netflix’s House of Cards and his part in Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World was reshot with Christopher Plummer replacing the actor.
