‘You are not a victim’: Kevin Spacey hits back at Guy Pearce’s claims he was ‘targeted’

In a fiery video posted to his X account, the Oscar-winning actor rebuked Pearce’s claims that he had made untoward advances on him in 1997 while filming L.A. Confidential.

"If I did something then that upset you, you could have reached out to me. We could have had that conversation," Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey said on a video posted to X.

Kevin Spacey has rejected claims made by Australian star Guy Pearce that he was “targeted” while filming the 1997 neo-noir LA Confidential, calling Pearce’s statements misleading and accusing him of revising their past interactions.

Pearce, who is nominated for an Academy Award next month for his role in Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, has previously alluded to difficulties with Spacey on set.

In a 2018 interview, he described the Oscar-winning actor as “a handsy guy” in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey — accusations that Spacey has consistently denied.

Grow up, Guy Pearce. You are not a victim. pic.twitter.com/33paGTj4Aq

— Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) February 18, 2025

At the time, Pearce was measured in his remarks, acknowledging Spacey’s talent while saying, “Slightly difficult time with Kevin, yeah. Thankfully, I was 29, and not 14.”

However, in a recent episode ofAwards Chatter, The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast, Pearce expanded on his earlier comments, suggesting that he has since reassessed his experience.

“I just try to be more honest about it now and call it for what it is,” he said, revealing that he “broke down and sobbed” upon achieving greater clarity about the extent of the allegations against Spacey. “I think it really dawned on me the impact that had occurred and how I sort of brushed it off and how I had either shelved it or blocked it out or whatever.”

Spacey and Pearce starred together in LA Confidential.

Pearce tempered his remarks by acknowledging that his experience was not as severe as those of others who have accused Spacey of misconduct. “Even though I probably was a victim to a degree, I was certainly not a victim by any means to the extent that other people have been to sexual predators,” he said.

“But I did that thing that you do where you brush it off and go, ‘Ah, that’s nothing. Ah, no, that’s nothing.’ And I did that for five months. And, really, I was sort of scared of Kevin because he’s quite an aggressive man.

“He’s extremely charming and brilliant at what he does – really impressive, etc. He holds a room remarkably. But I was young and susceptible, and he targeted me, no question.”

Spacey, in a video posted to his X account, responded to Pearce’s comments directly, dismissing them bluntly: “You are not a victim.”

“Guy Pearce. I’ve now read the comments that you made about me, and while I would have preferred not to have to play this out in the media, you obviously have your own reasons for wanting to do exactly that,” Spacey said. “We worked together a long time ago, you know. If I did something then that upset you, you could have reached out to me. We could have had that conversation.”

Spacey went on to question the sincerity of Pearce’s claims, referencing an alleged meeting between them in the late 1990s.

“Did you also, by the way, tell the press that a year after we shot LA Confidential, you flew to Savannah, Georgia, while I was shooting Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil just to spend time with me? I mean, did you tell the press that too, or does that not fit into the victim narrative you have going?”

Spacey concluded his remarks with a scathing dismissal of Pearce’s comments. “You really want to know my response? Grow up,” he said. “You are not a victim.”

Since 2017, multiple allegations of sexual misconduct have derailed Spacey’s career, including an accusation by actor Anthony Rapp, who claimed that Spacey made sexual advances toward him at a party in New York in 1986 when he was 14. Spacey has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing and has been acquitted in several legal cases.

Spacey outside a London court in July 2023. Picture: Getty Images

In July 2023, a British jury found him not guilty of nine counts of sexual assault. During the nearly month-long trial in London, the court heard testimony from four men who alleged that Spacey assaulted them between 2001 and 2013, when he served as the artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre.

In 2022, a federal jury in Manhattan cleared Spacey of battery in a civil case filed by Rapp.