American actor Kevin Spacey made an unexpected appearance at an Oxford lecture that paid tribute to the late conservative philosopher Roger Scruton on Monday night. It marked Kevin’s first public performance since his acquittal on sexual assault charges in London.
The opportunity was very well utilised by the actor accused in the Me Too scandal who has been recently acquitted by a UK court to reply back to Hollywood which cancelled him and threw his Hollywood career in jeopardy.
During the event, titled “What Shakespeare Can Teach Us About Cancel Culture,” Douglas Murray, an associate editor at The Spectator, invited Kevin to the stage to deliver a monologue from “Timon of Athens.”
The performance aimed to address the theme of society’s tendency to ostracize individuals without valid reasons, reflecting on the concept of cancel culture. A subject well suited for Spacey to answer to the world and break his silence over the Me Too allegations he has faced which led to cancelation of his popular series House of Cards and him being tacitly ostracised for Hollywood.
“It’s about what happens when a society drops a person for no reason,” Murray stated about the particular scene that Spacey was asked to perform. “It’s something that has been on Kevin’s mind, as it was on Roger Scruton’s mind, so I said I want him to be back on stage in the U.K.”
Spacey then delivered the performance, making his way through the crowd before saying the monologue’s final line: “I am sick of this false world, and will love it not!” Spacey dramatically stormed out of the room before re-entering, and was greeted with a standing ovation from the audience.
Douglas emphasized that this scene resonated with both Kevin and Roger. Kevin’s delivery was met with an enthusiastic response from the audience, with a dramatic exit and re-entry followed by a standing ovation.
He said, “In an era of cancellation and defenestration, we sometimes forget that we cannot go on like this and that we have been here before. We know this because our greatest writers and artists have addressed this question in their own times.”
In July, Kevin was cleared of sexual assault charges in the UK after a four-week trial. He had been accused of sexually assaulting four men between 2004 and 2013. Prior to this, he had faced similar charges in a New York trial in 2022, where he was also acquitted.
Despite these legal victories, Kevin continues to grapple with the impact of the allegations on his career. The premiere of his latest film, “Control,” faced controversy when a London cinema canceled the event.
This decision prompted strong disapproval from the cinema’s management, but the premiere found an alternative venue less than 24 hours after the cancellation.