Sharon Stone believes the outpouring of ‘hatred’ towards Kevin Spacey following allegations of sexual assault made against him stems from the fact that it’s ‘man-on-man’.
The two-time Oscar winner, known for the US adaptation of House of Cards along with American Beauty, has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen men since 2017.
Earlier this year, he was found not guilty during a London trial, having always maintained his innocence.
Speaking out on the scandal, Stone, 66, has now defended herself for supporting Spacey.
Addressing the backlash, the actress – who has previously been outspoken about her own experiences with harassment in Hollywood – began: ‘People are mad at me for that.’
‘I said that after being in therapy for seven years, not being allowed to work, losing his home, losing everything, he should be allowed to come back.
‘He’s reached out to everybody he’s offended and said he’s sorry.’
Stone added to The Hollywood Reporter that ‘nobody [has publicly said] he’s raped them or forced them into a sexual encounter’.
‘But there’s so much hatred for him because, in his case, it was man-on-man.’
The Basic Instinct star claimed that Spacey is ‘not allowed to come back’ to the industry because his alleged victims are male, saying that ‘none’ of her alleged perpetrators reached out to apologise to her.
In a statement later issued, Stone clarified that she ‘did not defend’ Spacey and that she is ‘not defending him’.
‘When someone does seven years of recovery from any compulsive behaviour whether it is drugs, alcohol or sexual addiction and then takes responsibility for it, in our business we allow them to come back to work with their sponsor,’ she told Entertainment Weekly.
‘This is the only case I have seen where that has not been the case. My observation is that this is because it is a man-on-man sex crime.
‘And we have not been responsible at all for men-on-women sex crimes and that there must be a middle line.’
Stone has spoken about the #MeToo movement herself in the past. In 2021, she shared a powerful speech about the treatment of sexual assault victims.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, the star – who once said she has ‘seen it all’ when it comes to misconduct in Hollywood – shared: ‘I don’t think “Me Too” is a Hollywood issue, I don’t think sexual abuse is a Hollywood issue.
‘I think it begins in homes, both rich and poor.’
She continued: ‘I think that the lack of communication is certainly a global one. I think that rape kits need to be processed. I think that elementary schools, nursery schools, need to have places where kids can say how they feel and what’s going on… I think we need to have better communication in courtrooms about how we treat victims of these kind of crimes.’
‘I believe that think tanks need to be made so that we have a better understanding of what all of this means and that we can address it more fruitfully, more thoughtfully, more compassionately in the legal system. I think that we are impoverished in our understanding of how to address these issues.’
Spacey has said himself that he still feels ostracised from the industry, despite the verdict finding in his favour during his trial.
In statements to the Telegraph newspaper, fellow actors came out in support of the 64-year-old in May, in the wake of the Channel 4 documentary Spacey Unmasked, which featured fresh allegations from men, which Spacey denied.
The programme featured testimonies from men ‘regarding events they say took place between 1976 and 2013’.
Stone’s original comments to the newspaper read: ‘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 knows more about our craft than most of us ever will.’
She said it was clear aspiring actors had ‘wanted and want to be around him’.
Stone added: ‘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.’
The likes of Liam Neeson praised Spacey as ‘a good man and a man of character’, while Stephen Fry said Spacey had been ‘clumsy and inappropriate’ on many occasions, but to ‘devote a whole documentary to accusations that simply do not add up to crimes… how can that be considered proportionate and justified?’
Ultimately, Spacey was acquitted in 2023 of sexually assaulting four men between 2001 and 2013.
He was also found not liable in a 2022 civil lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp, who accused Spacey of molesting him in 1986 when he was 14, and Spacey was 26.
Rapp said he suffered ‘psychiatric damage’, after the alleged incident.
Currently, Spacey is facing another civil trial in the UK after allegedly assaulting a man in 2008.
Again, he denies the accusations.