Kevin Spacey sexual assault case: Actor to voluntarily appear in U.K. court to avoid extradition

Actor Kevin Spacey was recently charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count for causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent by the court of United Kingdom. In the light of this serious matter that may come down to Spacey needing to be extradited from his home country of USA, the actor has now "volunteered" to appear in the court in defence of the charges laid against him. According to Variety, Kevin Spacey spoke to the Good Morning America show and issued a statement about being confident in his pursuits to prove his innocence. 

The charges against Spacey were announced on Thursday, May 26, by the Crown Protection Service (CPS) following deliberations that lasted close to a year. The Usual Suspects actor has been charged with sexual assault on four counts and one for non-consensual penetrative sexual activity that includes three different men. Reports suggest that assaults have taken place between 2004 and 2015 when Spacey was serving as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre - they first came to light at the peak of the MeToo movement in 2017 when Anthony Rapp, Kevin Spacey's former costar, revealed that the latter had made a non-consensual sexual advance towards him when he was only 14 years old. 

In the same statement to Good Morning America, Kevin Spacey thanked UK's Crown Protection Service for stating that he is entitled to a fair trial and is innocent till proven guilty, but also expressed disappointment over the case moving forward. He added that he will be showing up voluntarily in the court to defend the charges against him and avoid extradition by the UK authorities. 

Following the charges in 2017, Netflix shelved his film Gore and removed him from the last season of The House of Cards. His role in Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World was reshot with Christopher Plummer replacing him. After Rapp's allegations, as many as 15 others are said to have come forward with similar accounts of sexual assault.