Liam Neeson and Sharon Stone have joined Stephen Fry and F. Murray Abraham in supporting Kevin Spacey‘s return to Hollywood.
Their comments come on the back of newly surfaced allegations against Spacey in the recent Channel 4 documentary Spacey Unmasked.
“Kevin is a good man and a man of character,” Neeson told The Telegraph, adding he was “deeply saddened” to learn of new accusations against the House of Cards actor.
Spacey has not worked in Hollywood since being accused of sexual misconduct by several men in 2017. The actor was found not guilty last year of all charges, and in 2022 a US court dismissed a sexual assault lawsuit against him.
Several other lawsuits have also been dropped, and Spacey has denied all allegations. This month, however, 10 more men came forward with accusations of abuse in the two-part Channel 4 documentary.
In response to the project, Spacey wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “I will not sit back and be attacked by a dying network’s one-sided ‘documentary’ about me in their desperate attempt for ratings.”
Continuing his defence of Spacey, Neeson described the actor as “one of our finest artists in the theatre and on camera. Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly.”
Stone added: “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 known more about our craft than most of us ever will.”
She went on to say that it was clear young actors had “wanted and want to be around him”, saying: “It’s terrible that they are blaming him for not being able to come to terms with themselves for using him and negotiating with themselves because they didn’t get their secret agendas.”
Meanwhile, Abraham said he would “vouch for [Spacey] unequivocally,” adding: “Who are these vultures who attack a man who has publicly accepted his responsibility for certain behaviour, unlike so many others?… He is a fine man, I stand with him, and let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Stephen Fry was one of the first to criticise the Channel 4 documentary, saying: “To continue to harass and hound [Spacey], to devote a whole documentary to accusations that simply do not add up to crimes… how can that be considered proportionate and justified?”
Fry said Spacey’s reputation had been “wrecked”, adding: “Surely it is wrong to continue to batter a reputation on the strength of assertion and rhetoric rather than evidence and proof? Unless I’m missing something, I think he has paid the price.”
Spacey has since called out the network for not giving him enough time to respond to the allegations made in the documentary. Instead, he addressed them in a one-on-one interview with former GB News presenter Dan Wootton.