Liam Neeson joins group of A-list celebs insisting Kevin Spacey be allowed to resume Hollywood career

Neeson has described Spacey as “a good man and a man of character”.

Last July, Oscar-winning actor Spacey was found not guilty of sexually assaulting four men.

The Hollywood star had been on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of the assaults of four men in the period between 2001 and 2013.

The jury acquitted Spacey of seven counts of sexual assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

Despite being found not guilty by the courts, Spacey has been effectively blacklisted from the film and television industry and was fired in 2017 from hit Netflix show House Of Cards after the actor Anthony Rapp alleged Spacey, then aged 26, had molested him when he was 14 in the 1980s in his Manhattan apartment.

A jury in a civil trial in New York sided with Spacey, finding him not liable, and concluded the event had never taken place.

Multiple celebrities have come out publicly for the first time to support their industry colleague, following a Channel 4 documentary about the double Oscar winner, which British actor and author Stephen Fry, has lambasted for an unjustified and disproportionate attack on his character.

Ballymena-born star Neeson said “I was deeply saddened to learn of these accusations against him. Kevin is a good man and a man of character. He’s sensitive, articulate and non-judgmental, with a terrific sense of humour. He is also one of our finest artists in the theatre and on camera. Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly.”

In an interview with The Telegraph’s Allison Pearson, Spacey, 64, said he was the victim of a “rush to judgment” in the wake of the MeToo movement unleashed by allegations made against the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Spacey said all he had wanted – after being accused of a series of sexual misdemeanours – was “for people to ask questions and investigate. And I am well aware that that did not happen”.

He said that even if he could go back in time prior to the allegations when “none of the bad stuff will have happened”, he wouldn’t do so “because, despite the challenges and the difficulties and the pain and the bad days, I’ve also witnessed the most beautiful demonstrations of friendship and love and family.”

Oscar-winning actors Sharon Stone and F Murray Abraham have also defended Spacey, with the former telling The Telegraph: “I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will.”

She said it was clear aspiring actors had “wanted and want to be around him”, adding: “It’s terrible that they are blaming him for not being able to come to terms with themselves for using him and negotiating with themselves because they didn’t get their secret agendas.”