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US ACTOR KEVIN Spacey, under investigation for sexual assault in the US and Britain, has made a public appearance in Rome, his first in two years, La Repubblica daily reported today.
The daily paper posted a video on its website showing Spacey, dressed in a suit and tie, reciting a poem outdoors before “a handful of spectators”.
The actor made his appearance near a Hellenistic bronze statue “Boxer at Rest”, also known as the “Terme Boxer”, at the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, La Repubblica said. The statue shows a sitting nude boxer.
“It’s his first public appearance in two years,” it said.
The work Spacey recited, in English, is by Gabriele Tinti, a contemporary Italian poet, in which he gives the statue a voice.
The Rome trip comes after prosecutors last month dropped sexual assault proceedings against Spacey following the collapse of the case over his alleged victim’s refusal to testify.
William Little had accused the 60-year-old filmstar of groping him in a bar on the upscale resort island of Nantucket in July 2016.
Spacey has always insisted on his innocence of the charges.
It is the latest chapter in Hollywood’s reckoning over sexual assault and harassment, which has already seen television icon Bill Cosby jailed, with movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s trial set to begin in September.
Spacey is a two-time Oscar-winner — recognised for his supporting role in The Usual Suspects in 1996 and his lead role in American Beauty in 2000 — and considered one of the finest actors of his generation.
He was dropped from the cast of Netflix’s House of Cards and from a leading role in director Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World, with Christopher Plummer brought in as a last-second replacement.
In addition to the Nantucket case, two other investigations are underway in Los Angeles and London, where Spacey served as artistic director of the prestigious Old Vic theatre from 2004 to 2015.
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All charges against him dropped. Stop the internet persecution now and let this man return to his profession.
@Fergus O’Connor: investigations are still on-going.
@Fergus O’Connor: I’d say his number is up in regards to his profession, innocent or not.
@Fergus O’Connor: ehh only in one case. It’s highly unlikely he’s innocent
@GrahamMManning: innocent till proven guilty
@5hbeZh0I: @HughMorris: Highly unlikely Hugh? Please do share this evidence…. oh sorry, your just another one who wants to ignore innocent until proven guilty (in certain cases)
@Tony Harris: I heard stories from reliable sources that I trust of when he worked here on ordinary decent criminal. I agree with you about innocent until proven guilty but in cases like these that’s very hard to prove
@Tony Harris: and you’re forgiven
@5hbeZh0I: why should he be forgiven, innocent until proven guilty still applies, regardless of any stories you may have heard he still hasn’t been found guilty. Perhaps you should pass your stories onto the Gardai as see how evidential they may consider them
@5hbeZh0I: Reliable sources? Probably some bloke you had a brief chat with while pissing in the local pub toilets 10 years ago.
@5hbeZh0I: The good old reliable source, at the risk of being called a sexist, I would prefer the verdict of 12 good men and true over, and forgive me again, tittle tattle.
@John: fair enough but this much smoke tends to suggest fire.
@Tony Harris: frankly I couldn’t care less what you’d prefer. You’re effectively calling his accusers and victims liars. Shame on you
@Luke Lee: why would so many people randomly pick the same theme?
@GrahamMManning: it could also be arson
@5hbeZh0I: Oh Hugh, 2 out of 10, surely you can do better than that? Attempting to twist it into victim blaming is low, but, the cheap shot is what you excel in I suppose.
@Mandy Seiler: possibly but unlikely at this stage.
@Tony Harris: shame on you
@5hbeZh0I: Love you too
@Tony Harris: You’re a monster
@Fergus O’Connor: Everyone on this is a delusional Muppet. Spacey is a predatory kweer. Journalie is a government mouthpiece. Cop on.
@5hbeZh0I: you “heard stories”?
Oh, well, that’s all we need to know.
Any more stories?
@5hbeZh0I: “you’re a monster”
Name calling does not enhance your credibility.
@Noel Reid: Journal.ie is a government mouthpiece?
That’s a new one.
@Chin Feeyin: you’re welcome.
@Fergus O’Connor: stop spreading lies. Did you even read the article? He has two investigations ongoing in two different countries. Three people come out against him, but apparently you know the truth somehow.
@Tony Harris: absolutely disgusting carry on. Some people will forgive anything an actor does as long as they liked them. I stand by victims.
Great to see him back in public. Terrible what he was brought through and genuinely happy to see him continue to overcome it. Shame on Netflix for cutting him off like that without waiting for the truth yet they have no problem airing Glee with an actor found with thousands of child images.
@David: don’t use Netflix
@Scorpionvenomm: or the Journal
@David: he’s still under investigation? He needs to answer for his crimes. Being famous is no excuse.
It seems to me the likes of Kevin Spacey or any other professional person has only the word rape written against him then he losses everything. If he is proven guilty in a Court of law then he deserves everything coming down the line Now there’s another kind of trial the social media keyboard warriors. There’s no come back for that person as the world is full of doubters and a life and profession is ruined.
@Alan Scott: MSM are just as bad too and should be banned from any commentary until the case is closed
@Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland Look back on the Church abuse Jim it was SM who first highlighted it.
@Alan Scott: social media is a cancer ie Facebook
@Alan Scott: by the standards of a lot of the people here we should all just forget all the church’s child abuse because almost none of the priests involved have been found guilty in a court of law…
@Alan Scott: for too long we have stood by and let powerful men abuse those wesker than them. We need to call them out. We can’t keep letting them get away with it. It’s wonderful that we finally are. I know many people are defensive of their beloved celebrities, but the truth is you never really knew them. The % of false reports his so incredibly small and coming out publicly is so hard for victims, it’s unlikely these people were lying. Victims instantly get ridiculed, hated and called liars online (as I’m sure you can see) so it is very scary to come forward and say what happened. But if you just do it anonymously then no one takes you credibly. It’s the victims we should feel sorry for, not their abusers who are finally being brought to justice.
So far Spacey has not been found guilty of anything. We can’t have the mob-mentality, trial-by-media approach instead of proper legal debate. The true measure of any woman’s or man’s character cannot be ascertained through innuendo and accusation. I can say this with certainty: in terms of his acting, Spacey is a brilliant performer who, like all of us, is entitled to due process.
@Wood Jackson: The problem with Spacey was that he was not liked by directors, producers and actors for his inflated ego. He lost his job in the Old Vic theatre because actors refused to work with him.
@Aine Power: thanks for your reply Aine. I don’t know much about Spacey other than he is a brilliant actor who, by all accounts, had a very strange upbringing. I’ve never met the man. I’m completely open to new information. If he’s ever convicted of sexual assault I will of course change my opinion on him. I abhor assaults of any kind. However, I have to believe in the Justice system- flawed as it may be. We can’t destroy someone’s character based on speculation and rumour. That’s a very dangerous precedent. I think of Cliff Richard whose life was a living nightmare for several years due to tabloid gossip until he was fully exhonerated. That was very unfair on a decent man.
@Aine Power: Kevin Spacey was always employable in Hollywood up until allegations against him for sexual misconduct came to light. He was never asked from the Old Vic as Artistic Director. He always said that he would serve out a 10 year contract and he left after that was completed. Kevin Spacey was always liked at the Old Vic he saved this theatre from ruin it was struggling to survive when he took it over.
@Paul O’Sullivan: sacked
@Wood Jackson: Off course, but Spacey indeed is a very odd character. Dame Judi Dench came out and supported him and said he was no better or worse than Noel Coward and said that Coward was a very predatory man when it involved young men. As she said ” this is nothing new, it’s been going for centuries in the theatre”. But does it give anyone a right to have power over you because they employ you. Certainly sexual favours were requested and services were rendered and young actors were promoted. It just stinks, whether consensual or not. Mostly it was probably consensual, on very young and vulnerable young men.
@Aine Power: what all does actresses that sleep their way to the top to get ahead in the industry. Or woman who sleep with the boss , young female students in University with their lecturers it happens, it is a two way street.
@Paul O’Sullivan: you do realise that a woman sleeping with her boss is exploitation by her boss, right? He’s the one with the power to fire her. If your boss approaches you and suggests a sexual encounter, how is the woman supposed to decline? If he gets pissy who knows how badly her career will end up. It’s happened countless times. Many great female actors have disappeared from our screens because they refused to sleep with someone in the industry and so got black listed.
Look up Harvey Weinstein, he exploited that a lot.
This is news?
@Graham Wilson: you need a cream for that
@Jim O Brien – TechBuzz Ireland: news enough for you to come comment
@Kev Kev: Yoire so funny I forgot to laugh
There was a young man from Nantucket, with dollar signs in his eyes, he said “f**k it”. “Let Spacey in my pants, make a big song and dance, and before you know it the case will get dropped and I’ll look like a deceitful, money grabbing little trollop.”
@Record Sunshine: WHAT?? :D
I remember meeting Kevin Spacey once, in Dublin. He seemed like a really nice man. I’m not condoning what he’s but he’s said to have done but he seemed nice when I met him.
@Colin Buckley: Robert Downey Jnr comeback repeated
My big toe is itchy
@Paul Riordan: Friend of Graham’s?
Did he kiss the popes ring?
His virtually unemployable, his career is over. He was hated in Hollywood for his inflated ego, and even more hated at the Old Vic in London.
Some fool has cloned my account. I do not have genital herpes!
@Graham Wilson: you have seemed less yourself today
@GrahamMManning: **waves at Manning. CUCKOO! Did you ever have a thought enter your head that you didn’t feel the need to post on here? PMSL!
@Graham Wilson: says the sad ickle stalker hiding behind someone else! Ah diddums did being yourself just become too tragic?
@GrahamMManning: The two Grahams at each other as usual. I reckon you secretly fancy each other.
@Peter D W Clancy: think tis three of us today…does it for ya, yeah?
@Graham Wilson: yet
And what makes matters worse is that he was picked up in a London park at 4 am in the morning by the Met police with his trousers down engaging in a lewd act with a male. Jesus his a sleaze, he said he needed to get air as he suffered from asthma. Gosh, why wouldn’t he come out.
@Aine Power: if he came out, would it then not be a lewd act? Would it not be sleezy anymore?
@Aine Power: the fact that he was a closet gay is his own business. The fact that he picked people up for sex is his own business, as long as all consenting adults. I do not have any interest in his private life. His a gay man, he has been accused of abusing his power as Artistic Director at the Old Vic to engage in sexual activity . There has been a witch hunt against him as far as I’m concerned. A lot of women marry fat bald rich men because of the size of his wallet…..
@Tony Harris: just because he’s gay it doesn’t mean he isn’t capable of breaking the law. How do you sleep at night?!
@5hbeZh0I: think you missed the point there
Sleaze seems to follow him, he wouldn’t come out as gay and everyone in the Old Vic knew he was picking up young men. Decided then to come out in 2018 at advanced middle age. His a liar and a douche.
@Aine Power: sad
@Aine Power: You seem very determined to paint a nasty picture of him. You have posted a lot of unfounded allegations, multiple times. Do you have a particular personal issue with Kevin Spacey?
Everyone here with lots of armchair commentary would be better waiting until the other 2 investigations are completed – saying he is guilty or innocent of allegations at this stage is a complete waste of time. When justice has spoken he will either be a vindicated man with an opportunity to rekindle his acting career or deservedly thrown to the wolves like Cosby/glitter/Savile et al. In the meantime folks easy on the opinion bias.
Just a despicable few chasing $$$
He was excused that is good enough for me GUILTY!
@james s: so not guilty you are saying?
have your say