Kevin Spacey thanks famous friends Sharon Stone and Liam Neeson for leaping to his defense and says he ‘just wants to get back to work’ amid new sexual abuse allegations

‘Its been seven years. It’s a very long time. I believe that it’s beginning to move in a direction that’s much more positive,’ he told Cuomo. 

‘I’m trying to show that I’ve listened, I’ve learned – I’ve got the memo.

‘I’ve tried to spend these past seven years going into myself, asking a lot of questions, listening, having conversations with people that I felt I owed amends to.

‘I just want to get back to work,’ the 64-year-old said. 

‘I’m so grateful for the career I had and I feel like I’ve got so much to offer. I am enormously pleased that my friends have stood up for me this past day – but quite frankly they’ve been standing up for me for a long time.’ 

Spacey said, ‘I used to always want to be the best actor – and now I want to prove I’m a man of great character.’

He recalls telling his manager, Evan Lowenstein, ‘I don’t know who I am without my work,’ and said that his manager supported him throughout the aftermath of the accusations.  

Cuomo asks ‘who do you blame’ to which spacey responds ‘fear’ – adding that he believes society has come to a place where people are afraid to say what they feel because they’re afraid they’re going to be ‘cancelled’

He continues to say he’s thankful for those who stepped up, and that he thinks there will be more soon.

Cuomo asked if Spacey would be able to ‘handle if they wont et you back in’ – to which the House of Cards star responded, ‘I don’t think that an executive, no matter how powerful, should speak for the American or British public.’ 

When Cuomo asked the actor about moving forward after being legally cleared of accusations, Spacey said that we live in a country that values due process and fairness – but that he believes the pendulum has swung far towards unfairness.

Spacey said that we have to be careful pendulum doesn’t swing back in the other direction – adding that the #metoo movement was an important one and a valued one.

In another interview this week, Spacey appeared close to tears and his voice started to break as he defiantly vowed not to give up on a return to Hollywood.  

Speaking to The Telegraph, he admitted he had behaved poorly and done inappropriate things in the past. 

But he said he had been focused on growing and becoming a better person in the last seven years.    

‘If anyone thinks that I don’t sorely regret the mistakes that I have made or the choices I’ve made or that I hurt anyone along the way then you aren’t aware of the personal work that I have been doing for the last seven years,’ he said.

Appearing to be close to tears, his voice started to break as he continued: ‘If anyone thinks I’m going to give up on acting they have got me wrong on all counts.’

Spacey won two Academy Awards as best supporting actor for The Usual Suspects in 1996 and best actor in 2000 for American Beauty, which also secured him a Bafta for leading actor.

Defending Spacey, Sharon Stone said she ‘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 told the Daily Telegraph.

The Basic Instinct star, 66, said it was clear aspiring actors had ‘wanted and want to be around him’.

Liam Neeson also gave a glowing testimony of Spacey’s character.

‘I was deeply saddened to learn of these accusations against him. Kevin is a good man and a man of character,’ he said.

‘He’s sensitive, articulate and non-judgmental, with a terrific sense of humor. He is also one of our finest artists in the theatre and on camera. Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly.’

Oscar-winning actor F. Murray Abraham told The Telegraph he vouched for Spacey ‘unequivocally’ and accused ‘vultures’ of attacking the fallen star, saying he has ‘publicly accepted his responsibility for certain behavior, unlike so many others’. 

Meanwhile, Stephen Fry accepted Spacey had been ‘clumsy’ and ‘inappropriate’ but should not be lumped in ‘with the likes of Harvey Weinstein’.

He added: ‘I think he has paid the price.’

Sir Trevor Nunn, who directed Spacey at The Old Vic on two occasions, said ‘it is time for this man to be forgiven for whatever poor judgements he may have made in the past’ and resume acting after ‘seven years of exile’.

Channel 4 said it stood by its documentary as an ‘important film’, giving a voice to those who feel unable to speak up.