Kevin Spacey to get charity award in Cannes despite new scandal

Actor Kevin Spacey, centre, leaves court, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

CANNES, France - Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey is to be given a lifetime’s achievement award by a charity on the fringes of the Cannes film festival Tuesday despite being hit by a new sexual misconduct case.

The Better World Fund told AFP that the actor will be recognized “for his decades of artistic brilliance” at a charity gala, another step in the controversial rehabilitation of the scandal-plagued star.

The charity told AFP Monday that it invited Spacey to the French Rivera resort because he had been cleared by the courts.

The invitation to Cannes -- where Spacey has not been seen on the red carpet since 2016 -- comes as the main festival has been enforcing a new no-tolerance policy on sexual misconduct, under pressure from lawmakers and #MeToo anti-abuse activists.

A festival spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

Spacey was acquitted of nine cases of alleged sex offences in Britain in 2023 and a New York court dismissed a US$40 million civil sexual misconduct lawsuit against the “Usual Suspects” actor in 2022.

But last May new claims of inappropriate sexual behaviour emerged in a British television documentary, “Spacey Unmasked”.

In it, 10 men not involved in the U.K. court case involving Spacey accused him of behaving inappropriately towards them.

But the 65-year-old, whose stellar career was derailed by the earlier claims, denied any wrongdoing.

In February, lawyers for former actor Ruari Cannon told AFP that he was taking a case to Britain’s High Court against Spacey and London’s Old Vic Theatre, where the actor was artistic director between 2003 and 2015.

In the documentary, Cannon accused Spacey of having touched him inappropriately in London when he was 21 years old and the American star was 53.

#MeToo policy

Cannes -- once the hunting ground of disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein whose arrest sparked the #MeToo movement -- has been dogged for years by claims that it was too soft on celebrity abusers.

This year’s festival opened just as French screen legend Gerard Depardieu was handed an 18-month suspended sentence for sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.

With jury president, French actor Juliette Binoche, speaking out about harassment she experienced on set, Cannes has been swift to implement its new rules.

French actor Theo Navarro-Mussy -- who denies rape allegations made by three women against him -- was barred last week from the premiere of “Dossier 137”, one of the films in the running for the Palme d’Or top prize.

The festival justified its decision by saying an appeal was under way.

And on Thursday, a vice president of the avant garde parallel film section at Cannes, ACID, was suspended after being publicly accused of sexual violence during an event.

By Fiachra Gibbons