Why Elton John testified at Kevin Spacey's sexual assault trial

Elton John and husband David Furnish testified on behalf of Kevin Spacey at the embattled actor's sexual assault trial in London.

The singer dialed in via video link from Monaco on Monday to share his recollections of Spacey attending his annual White Tie and Tiara Ball, an event hosted to raise money for the fight against AIDS that has been referenced several times throughout the case. One accuser claimed to police that Spacey had grabbed his crotch so forcefully while driving to John's event in either 2004 or 2005 that he almost ran off the road.

Both John and Furnish corroborated Spacey's testimony that the only time he attended the event was in 2001, citing photographs taken at the ball between 2001 and 2005 and asserting that Spacey only appeared in photographs that one year. (All guests are photographed each year, Furnish testified.) "He came on a private jet and came straight to the ball," John said, according to The New York Times.

When asked to confirm Spacey's transportation, John said he presumed Spacey arrived via private jet because he did not believe anyone would wear a white tie ensemble on a commercial flight.

Furnish said he was surprised by Spacey's attendance. "He was an Oscar-winning actor and there was a lot of buzz and excitement that he was at the ball," he testified.

Spacey's accuser acknowledged that he may have gotten the year wrong, but he would not have forgotten the incident because he was driving and had nearly lost control of the car, per AP News. The accuser previously testified that Spacey fondled him over several years beginning in the early 2000s and the incident was the final occasion. The accuser threatened to hit Spacey and avoided him thereafter.

The actor has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges relating to alleged incidents between 2001 and 2003 involving four men (all of whom are afforded anonymity under British law), including sexual assault and indecent assault. A New York jury previously determined that Spacey was not liable in a separate 2022 sex abuse lawsuit involving actor Anthony Rapp, who accused Spacey of assault and battery when he was 14 and the actor was 26.

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