Brian Cox defends Kevin Spacey and says he ‘never found him abusive’

'How dare you cancel anybody?'

Spacey hasn't appeared on stage or screen since 2017, when actor Anthony Rapp accused him of sexually abusing him in 1986. Spacey would have been 26 at the time, while Rapp was 14.

Rapp's accusations were dismissed in a New York court in 2022.

Separately, Spacey faced nine sexual offence charges relating to four men between 2001 and 2013, but was cleared of these in July 2023.

The House of Cards star has always denied the allegations against him or insisted the relationships were consensual.

Now, Succession star Brian Cox has defended Spacey, calling him an "old friend" who he had "never found abusive."

Speaking to the i, Cox said he found the 'cancelling' of Spacey "really petty" and "not right."

He told the paper: “Kevin is an old friend of mine. All right, Kevin did certain things… He also did a lot of extraordinary work. And I find that really petty, and I just don’t like it. It’s sneaky and petty and not right. Not everybody is abusive. I’ve never found Kevin Spacey abusive.

Cox continued: "He was misguided, certainly, in terms of his sexuality, but that’s to do with him coming to terms with his own sexuality and how he’s dealt with that, and the dilemma that it’s caused in his life. We’ve got to an age now where people are going, ‘Oh, that’s bad, he’s out, boom, he’s cancelled.’ What do you mean ‘cancelled’? How dare you cancel anybody?”

Last year, a group of stars, including Stephen Fry and Liam Neeson, voiced their support for Stacey's return to acting after he was cleared of the allegations against him.

The actors were part of a group who told the Telegraph he must be allowed to resume his career.