Kevin Spacey questioned by Scotland Yard over sexual assault allegations
Actor Kevin Spacey has been questioned in the U.S. by officers from Scotland Yard about the sexual assault allegations he faces in the U.K., Variety has learned. The Oscar-winning star voluntarily submitted to the interview, which took place in May, and was not arrested, police said, adding that the investigation continues.
Six allegations of assault and sexual assault have been lodged against Spacey at Scotland Yard, which is also known as London’s Metropolitan Police force. The alleged offenses against six different men date to between 1996 and 2013.
Officers from the Met’s Complex Case team questioned Spacey in the U.S., police said, without specifying exactly where the meeting took place or whether it focused on one or more of the allegations. “In May 2019, a man was voluntarily interviewed under caution in America, by officers from the Met’s Complex Case Team,” the force said in a statement to Variety. “He was not arrested. Inquiries are ongoing.” (In British police parlance, “under caution” means that the interviewee was informed of his rights.)
A legal representative for Spacey did not respond to a request for comment. The “House of Cards” and “American Beauty” star has not faced any formal charges relating to the U.K. allegations. Spacey was artistic director of London’s Old Vic theater.
Related: Kevin Spacey through the years
The first of the U.K. allegations against Spacey was lodged with authorities in late 2017. Several were added thereafter, the most recent one in spring 2018. Most of the cases center on alleged assaults in the London districts of Lambeth and Westminster; one concerns an alleged incident in Gloucester, a city in the west of England.
Spacey was based in London for several years. He was artistic director of the Old Vic theater in London from 2003 to 2015.
The earliest allegation being investigated dates back to 1996, before his tenure at the Old Vic, and the latest to 2013.
The theater’s own investigation found that Spacey’s “stardom and status at The Old Vic may have prevented people, and in particular junior staff or young actors, from feeling that they could speak up or raise a hand for help.” The theater said that 20 men had come forward with claims against Spacey.
The double-Oscar-winning actor faces allegations on both sides of the pond. This week a man who alleged that he was groped by the actor in a Nantucket bar in 2016 dropped his civil case. Spacey is still expected to face trial on a charge of indecent assault stemming from the incident. Spacey has also been sued by a massage therapist who alleges that Spacey tried to force him to grab the actor’s genitals.
