Italian Committee Defends Honoring Spacey: “In Italy, We Believe in the Presumption of Innocence”

A lot of brouhaha occured earlier in the week when it was announced that Kevin Spacey had received Italy’s greatest film honor, the Stella della Mole Award.

Now the head of the organization, Domenico De Gaetano, is defending his decision to prize Spacey, stating that it was a no-brainer decision after the actor was cleared by a New York jury in October:

“In Italy, we believe in the principle of the presumption of innocence. When the trial ended in New York and he was cleared, even if there were potentially other trials down the line, he was innocent.”

“When the idea was floated of inviting him, I thought, ‘Why not?’ I was sure he would give a good masterclass. I knew there might be some pushback and controversy, but this didn’t concern me. I was interested in cinema and Spacey as an actor. His personal life, especially given the fact he had just been absolved, was not of interest to us.”

“I think there is a different attitude in Europe from the U.S. You can’t just cancel a person or tar everyone with the same brush,” said De Gaetano.

Here’s a recap of my 01.27.23 writeup:

Back in October, a jury found Spacey not guilty in regards to the molestation charges brought forth against him by actor Anthony Rapp. There were plenty of holes in Rapp’s account of the events, but I still wondered if Spacey could get out of this one. He did and now we’re wondering what’s next.

Spacey had also been charged in 2017 for, allegedly, sexually assaulting the teenage son of former Boston WCVB-TV news anchor Heather Unruh at a Nantucket bar in July 2016. Eventually the charges against Spacey were dropped. Spacey’s accuser had altered phone records/text messages. When the accuser took the fifth in court, that sealed the deal and the complainant lost the case.

That hasn’t stopped investigators in London and L.A. from continuing to investigate the actor over other allegations of sexual assault. Directors Paul Schrader and Bernardo Bertolucci have defended Spacey.

Most of these charges stem from Spacey’s time as the artistic director at London's The Old Vic theatre between 2004 and 2015. The actor did apologize for any "inappropriate drunken behaviour,” but says he can’t remember any incidents of wrongdoing during that time.

Last we heard of Spacey, the actor, he had been kicked off his own Netflix show, “House Of Cards,“ and had his already-shot role in Ridley Scott’s “All The Money In The World” completely erased and redone by Christopher Plummer.

Last year, the New York Post reported that Spacey was already plotting his Hollywood comeback, stating that he was “still getting acting offers from Europe and Russia.”

Spacey was one of the great living actors before he got embroiled in these controversies, his career highlights included marquee roles in American Beauty, The Usual Suspects, Se7en, Glengary Glen Ross, L.A. Confidential and The Negotiator.