Kevin Spacey, who was just hit with new sexual assault charges in November and pleaded not guilty to them three days ago, is fairly controversial these days. But not to the National Cinema Museum in Turin, Italy, which honored the actor with a lifetime achievement award Monday. Spacey, who attended the ceremony, also taught a master class at the museum and introduced a screening of his 1999 film American Beauty. The sold-out event was billed as Spacey's first speaking engagement since 2017, when he was first hit with a sex abuse lawsuit, and the actor became "overcome with emotion" while accepting the honor, the New York Post reports. Deadline confirms this is Spacey's "first major public appearance in more than five years."
"My heart is very full tonight toward the National Museum of Cinema for having had the le palle to invite me tonight," he said, using the Italian word for "balls." "By presenting this award, they are making a strong defense of artistic achievement and for that they should be applauded," said Spacey, who's been in Turin for Franco Nero’s The Man Who Drew God, which premiered there last month. During a meeting with the press, Spacey pooh-poohed the idea of a comeback, however: "What you see in the media is not real life, I’m not coming back to public life because I never left it." As for the most recent charges against him, Spacey did not mention those at the event, per the Hollywood Reporter. (More Kevin Spacey stories.)
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