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Kevin Spacey says he's 'enormously pleased' amid support from Sharon Stone, Liam Neeson

​​​​​​​View Date:2024-12-24 01:29:35

Major Hollywood stars have Kevin Spacey's back in his fight to get his career back.

Sharon Stone and Liam Neeson are defending Spacey amid the premiere of the British documentary "Spacey Unmasked," which aired Channel 4, and detailed sexual assault allegations leveled at the two-time Oscar winner. The pair provided statements to British newspaper The Telegraph in support of Spacey.

"I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will," Stone told The Telegraph, adding that it's "terrible" that past aspiring actors "are blaming him for not being able to come to terms with themselves for using him."

Kevin Spacey hits back at documentaryset to feature allegations 'dating back 48 years'

Sharon Stone, Liam Neeson defend Kevin Spacey

Meanwhile, Neeson told The Telegraph he was "deeply saddened to learn of these accusations against" Spacey.

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"Kevin is a good man and a man of character. He's sensitive, articulate and non-judgmental, with a terrific sense of humor," Neeson added. "He is also one of our finest artists in the theatre and on camera. Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly."

Earlier this month, the "House of Cards" alum slammed the British TV network Channel 4, which aired the two-part documentary "Spacey Unmasked" on May 6- 7 alongside streaming service Max in the United States.

He posted on X that the network did not allow him enough time to respond to allegations "dating back 48 years" and did not provide him "sufficient details to investigate these matters."

"Channel 4 has refused on the basis that they feel that asking for a response in seven days to new, anonymized and non-specific allegations is a 'fair opportunity' for me to refute any allegations made against me,'" Spacey claimed, adding that he "will not sit back and be attacked by a dying network's one-sided 'documentary' about me in their desperate attempt for ratings."

In July 2023, the New Jersey native was acquitted of nine sexual assault charges after a four-week-long trial in London. He was charged with sexual and indecent assault and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent after accusations by four men in Britain.

Three of the men accused the actor of grabbing their crotches. The fourth said he woke up to the actor performing oral sex on him after going to the "Usual Suspects" actor's London apartment for a beer and either passing out or falling asleep.

The accusations date from 2001 to 2013.

In first TV interview in years, Kevin Spacey thanks friends and says he wants to 'get back to work'

In his first live TV interview in several years, Spacey told Chris Cuomo Thursday night on NewsNation’s "CUOMO" that he's grateful for his friends in the industry who have backed him.

"I am enormously pleased that my friends have stood up for me this past day, but quite frankly, they've been standing up for me for a long, long time," he said.

"I believe that it's beginning to move in a direction that is much more positive," he told Cuomo. "And I think that I'm trying to show that I've listened, I've learned, I've got the memo, I'm not going to behave in any way, in the future, that is questionable. And that I've tried to spend these past seven years going into myself asking a lot of questions and listening, having conversations with people that I felt I owed amends to."

He added, "At a certain point, I just want to get back to work."

Since he was the subject of several cases in the U.S. and the U.K. over the past few years, Spacey said, "I have to work very hard on rebuilding the trust that some may have lost in me. I have to demonstrate every single day in every single experience an environment that I'm in, that I have, in fact listened that I am ready to move forward that I am."

He later revealed, "I'm so much happier today, living a more authentic and open life.”

In 2022, a jury found Spacey did not molest actor Anthony Rapp when he was 14. The following year, a London jury acquitted Spacey after he was accused of sexual offenses against four men in Britain.

Civil judgment overturned in the UK:Kevin Spacey to go to trial in UK for alleged sexual assault

Kevin Spacey: Pendulum has swung 'in the direction of unfairness' since #MeToo

During the interview, Spacey also shared his thoughts on the #MeToo movement, which started in October 2017.

"I think that we have to be cautious and look back and say, look, there was some tremendously important and valuable things and an impact happened with the Me Too movement," he told Cuomo. "However, as these sort of pendulums swing from one side to the other, as you will know, I think it's swung very, very far in the direction of unfairness and not allowing people – and I'm not just talking about myself, but a whole lot of people."

He acknowledged that Cuomo himself had faced a sexual misconduct allegation in 2021.

He continued, "We have to also be careful to make sure that the pendulum now doesn't swing so far in the other direction, even though I – and a lot of other people – believe it's moving in the right direction, because we have to be conscious that the Me Too movement was an important one and a valued one.”

Spacey said he's taken accountability for some of his actions while maintaining his innocence in allegations of "thing I didn't do."

"I accept my accountability; I think it's incredibly important," he said. "I am not going to be accountable for things I didn't do or that were exaggerated or greatly changed. But I absolutely believe that my role in it was my role in it."

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