Kevin Spacey sexual assault trial begins in New York

NEW YORK — Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey was in a New York federal courtroom Thursday to defend himself in a lawsuit by actor Anthony Rapp.

Rapp, now 51, had accused fellow actor Kevin Spacey, 63, of sexual misconduct toward him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old and Spacey was 26.

According to The Associated Press, Rapp kept quiet about what happened for three decades. The lawsuit alleges that a drunk, swaying Spacey swept him up in his arms, laid him on a bed and climbed on top of him.

Spacey denies the allegations and claims that Rapp was not at the party. According to the AP, his legal team argues that if what Rapp described had happened, it wouldn’t constitute a sexual advance.

Both are expected to testify in the trial, which is expected to last less than two weeks.

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In May, Spacey was charged with five counts of sexual assault in the U.K.

British prosecutors unveiled the charges on May 22, according to Variety.

“The CPS has authorized criminal charges against Kevin Spacey, 62, for four counts of sexual assault against three men,” said Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS Special Crime Division.

One of the charges included causing a person to engage in “sexual activity without consent.”

According to The Associated Press, those alleged incidents occurred in London between March 2005 and August 2008 and in western England in April 2013.

Spacey pleaded not guilty to the charges in July.

That plea came less than a month after Spacey, was granted unconditional bail at a June 16 preliminary hearing, CNN previously reported.

In 2019, Spacey appeared in court in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on a charge of indecent assault and battery. He was accused of groping an 18-year-old busser at the Nantucket bar on July 7, 2016. According to the New York Times, prosecutors dropped the case when the accuser refused to testify.

That same year, he was questioned by British police about claims by several men that he had assaulted them.

Spacey starred as Frank Underwood in the Netflix hit series “House of Cards” until sexual assault allegations against the actor surfaced. Netflix fired Spacey in November 2017.

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