Actor Kevin Spacey made his first public performance in the U.K. at the Oxford Lecture Monday delivering a Shakespearean monologue to a standing ovation during a discussion of “cancel culture.”
The associate editor of The Spectator, Douglas Murray, opened the segment talking about how history has dealt with “cancel culture” in the past by reminding the audience that conservative philosopher Roger Scruton faced a similar situation in 2019 when he was summarily dismissed from a government commission after he made comments some found offensive, Variety reported.
Murray said that the topic of cancel culture had obviously been on Spacey’s mind after these last few years of his life, and so he invited the actor to the lecture to deliver a portion of Shakespeare’s “Timon of Athens.”
“In an era of cancellation and defenestration we sometimes forget that we cannot go on like this and that we have been here before. We know this because our greatest writers and artists have addressed this question in their own times,” Murray said.
“It’s about what happens when a society drops a person for no reason,” Murray added. “It’s something that has been on Kevin’s mind, as it was on Roger Scruton’s mind, so I said I want him to be back on stage in the U.K.”
Spacey entered the room, and walked through the crowd delivering the dramatic lines. As he delivered the last words he stormed out of the room with a flourish, reciting “I am sick of this false world, and will love it not!”
When he reentered to take his bow, the room of attendees leapt to their feet and gave Spacey a standing ovation.
Despite his acquittal on sex assault charges, Spacey is still suffering the results of a backlash against him for the many accusations that have maintained that he took advantage of men down through the years.
Just this week the London premiere of his new film, Control, was canceled when the management of the Prince Charles Cinema explained that they were “horrified” when they realized that the film featured Spacey’s return to the screen and they were upset to be mentioned in the same breath as the controversial actor.
“We have an issue. It is with my apologies that I have to inform you that we have cancelled your hire with us,” the staff of the cinema reportedly said in a letter to the film’s lead actress, Lauren Metcalf.
“Last night it came to our attention that your film features Kevin Spacey, in particular his first film since the court case. My staff as well as I are horrified that we are being mentioned in the same breath as his new film for the premiere,” the management of the theater concluded.
The two-time Oscar winner, who was acquitted of sexual assault charges at a London trial in July, is not seen on screen in Control and instead is featured as a voice heard during phone calls with Metcalf in the film.
After Spacey was cleared on all counts after the four-week trial in London’s Southwark Crown Court, Control director Gene Fallaize told Variety, “I don’t regret casting Kevin and I would do it all over again.”
Spacey has been under scrutiny for more than six years after the House of Cards star began facing charges of sexual assault and harassment, both in the U.S. and the U.K., that go back more than a decade.
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