Oscar-winning American actor Kevin Spacey is set to receive a lifetime achievement award on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, according to the Better World Fund, an organisation separate from the festival.
Spacey, who has been acquitted of sexual assault charges in both the UK and the US, will be honoured for his “decades of artistic brilliance” at a charity gala, the foundation told French news agency AFP.
The foundation noted that it invited Spacey after he was “cleared by the justice system.”
In July 2023, following a highly publicised month-long trial in London, Spacey was acquitted of sexual assault allegations made by four men. One of the four is pursuing a civil case against him, potentially leading to another trial.
In the US, Spacey was found not liable in a 2022 civil trial in New York. A separate case had been dropped in 2019.
However, this year, he faces a new sexual assault allegation in London from former actor Ruari Cannon.
In a documentary aired on Channel 4 in May 2024, titled ‘Spacey Unmasked,’ Cannon accused Spacey of inappropriately touching him in public in 2013 in London, when Cannon was 21 and Spacey, 53.
The documentary also featured allegations from nine other men, all of which Spacey has denied.
Spacey last appeared on the Cannes red carpet in 2016.
