Elton John appeared by video in a London court on Monday to provide evidence at Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault trial.
Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty at London’s Southwark Crown Court to 12 charges of sexual offenses allegedly committed against four men in Britain between 2001 and 2013. The accusers say Spacey groped them and, in the case of one, performed oral sex while he was unconscious.
John was asked about Spacey’s attendance at a party hosted in the early 2000s, on the way to which Spacey is alleged to have sexually assaulted a driver so aggressively he almost crashed.
John said Spacey stayed overnight at his and his husband’s home in Windsor after the event, but added “I can’t remember him coming down after that.”
He was also asked by prosecutor Christine Agnew about a photo that showed the complainant outside a London theatre as John left the venue.
John said he did not recognize the man and would not have noticed him. He said it was “always a mad rush” to get to his car when he left a venue with photographers outside.
“They could be the queen and I don’t notice,” he said.
John’s husband, David Furnish, also gave evidence by video from Monaco, saying that Spacey had only attended a party they staged annually at their home in 2001, a few years earlier than the accuser had stated.
Furnish said he had spoken to the complainant, whom he described as a “very friendly, affable, easy-going person”.
“You could always engage in playful banter with him,” Furnish said. “He was a good, fun, engaging person.”
The man has told the court Spacey made increasingly unwanted sexual advances, while the actor said they had enjoyed a consensual, “romantic” relationship.
Furnish told the court he remembered asking the complainant “how is the most handsome driver in London?” He also said “He was always very comfortable with those types of exchanges.”
