Whether you like it or not, Kevin Spacey is planning his comeback. According to The Guardian, the disgraced two-time Oscar winner returned to the stage to perform a Shakespeare scene at a cancel culture event. This was his first appearance since his release on sexual assault charges in the UK.
At Oxford University’s Sheldonian Theater, Spacey performed a five-minute scene from Timon of Athens during a lecture in memory of the late conservative philosopher Roger Scruton. British conservative columnist Douglas Murray invited Spacey to appear at the lecture, which focused on “what Shakespeare can teach us about cancel culture,” and delivered remarks before the Oscar winner took the stage. After the performance, Spacey received a standing ovation from the audience.
The performance came just days after news that the Prince Charles Cinema in London had withdrawn its offer to host the premiere of Spacey’s latest film, Control. While Spacey doesn’t make a physical appearance in “Control,” he provides the voice of a villain who remotely hijacks a self-driving car. After learning of Spacey’s role in the film, he was appointed theater director Greg Lynn wrote an email to one of the project’s producers, Lauren Metcalfe, with excerpts published in The Telegraph: “Last night we learned that your film stars Kevin Spacey, specifically his first film since the trial. Both my colleagues and I are appalled that we are being mentioned in the same breath as his new film for the premiere.”
In July, Spacey was found not guilty of sexually abusing four men between 2001 and 2013 while he served as artistic director of the Old Vic. Nine charges were filed against Spacey, including seven counts of sexual assault, one count of inducing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and one count of inducing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The trial lasted four weeks and the most serious charge carried a maximum penalty of life in prison. The acquittal followed a US court ruling in 2022 that rejected individual sexual allegations in a civil case.
Spacey has been pushed out of mainstream Hollywood since 2017, when he was a Broadway actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making sexual advances toward him at a house party in 1986, when Rapp was just 14 years old. (Spacey released a statement excuse to Rapp, but claimed he had no recollection of the alleged interaction.) After the allegation came to light, Spacey was cut from the film “All the Money in the World” and replaced with the late Christopher Plummer. He has since appeared in independent films and received the Stella della Mole Award at Italy’s National Museum of Cinema in Turin earlier this year.