Kevin Spacey misunderstood signals but did not assault man, actor claims in London court.

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) – Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey said on Friday he “definitely misread the signs” when he allegedly grabbed a man’s crotch, as he faced prosecutors’ questions at his London trial on charges of sex offences against four men.

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges allegedly committed between 2001 and 2013 and said in evidence on Thursday that he was “crushed” by the accusations.

The four accusers have said Spacey, who is standing trial at Southwark Crown Court, aggressively groped them and, in the case of one complainant, performed oral sex on him while he was passed out in Spacey’s flat.

The two-time Academy Award winner was questioned on Friday by prosecutor Christine Agnew, who asked Spacey whether he regularly used “the crotch grab” when he met men for the first time.

Spacey said he did not, adding: “It is the term grabbing a crotch or groping a crotch that I object to.”

He said he was “an affectionate person” and would hug people when he met them, but that he would not pursue someone if they did not appear to be interested in him.

Spacey also said: “I, at times, was promiscuous and I had casual, indiscriminate sexual encounters.”

Agnew asked Spacey if he felt a “frisson of excitement” if he propositioned straight men. The actor said: “I don’t know if somebody’s gay or straight by looking at them.”

The actor was asked about one of the four complainants, who alleges Spacey gave him an “awkward” hug, kissing his neck and then grabbed his crotch, after he went with friends to where Spacey was staying near Oxford in central England.

Spacey has admitted making a “clumsy pass” at the man, but denied sexually assaulting him.

“I definitely misread the signs that I thought (the man) was sending, I accept that,” Spacey said on Friday.

Spacey added that his contact with the man was not “what you would call a grab or a grope – it is a gentle touch”.

Agnew asked if there had been “the beginning of a squeeze” of the man’s genitals, which Spacey said there may have been.

Spacey described his encounters with two of the other complainants as “consensual interactions”, adding: “If they went further than they wanted, they didn’t tell me.”

He said the fourth complainant, who alleges Spacey painfully grabbed his crotch like “a cobra” in the mid-2000s, had “made up his entire story from beginning to end”.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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