Kevin Spacey wants Hollywood to turn the page. The industry loves a comeback story almost as much as it loves a scandal, but not every redemption arc ends with applause. Nearly a decade after allegations upended his career, the Oscar winner is making another public case for why he believes it’s time to move on—and whether audiences are okay with that remains an open question.
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Appearing on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, the Oscar-winning actor reflected on his years out of the spotlight, his experience as a gay man who stayed closeted for decades, and why he believes public opinion may finally be shifting in his favor.
Kevin Spacey doesn’t deny there was “fire”
Maher wasted no time addressing the elephant that has followed Spacey since 2017.
“I’m not going to lie to you, I go by numbers with scandals,” began Maher. “If it’s like one person, I’m always like, ‘I don’t know if I wasn’t in the room.’ When it gets to like you had, it’s like, ‘Come on man, there’s too much smoke to be no fire.’”
Rather than insisting nothing happened, Spacey acknowledged there was some truth behind the accusations—just not to the extent he believes many people assumed.
“I never said there was no fire. It just wasn’t a raging forest fire. It was a small kitchen fire that could have been put out with an extinguisher.”
That distinction has long been central to his defense. Spacey has consistently denied committing any illegal acts.
In 2023, he was acquitted in London of nine criminal charges, including sexual assault allegations involving four men relating to incidents alleged to have occurred between 2001 and 2013. Earlier, he was also found not liable in the U.S. civil lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp, who alleged Spacey molested him when he was 14.
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More recently, however, Spacey agreed to a settlement with three men who accused him of sexual assault in a separate civil case. The agreement prevented the matter from proceeding to trial, although no financial details or additional terms were publicly disclosed.
Being gay, closeted, and constantly talked about
The conversation eventually turned away from the courtroom and toward something many LGBTQ people may recognize: the exhausting pressure of hiding who you are. Spacey admitted that while he often flirted with men, he spent years trying to keep his sexuality private.
“I hit on a lot of guys,” said Spacey. “There are certain cases where part of something is true, but it’s been rethought, it’s been redesigned, or it’s been entirely made up, certainly in the case of Anthony Rapp, which is a case that we won in federal court in New York.”
He also acknowledged just how determined he was to stay in the closet.
“I was fiercely closeted. I didn’t want anyone to know anything about me and of course I thought I was so clever that no one knew.”
According to Spacey, the secrecy wasn’t nearly as effective as he imagined.
“There was so many stories about me. There was lots of talk about that I was gay and I just wasn’t out and rather than the gay community understanding that…I always felt that I was being attacked.”
For many gay readers, that feeling may sound painfully familiar. Before coming out became more accepted in many parts of the entertainment industry, plenty of LGBTQ actors navigated careers while constantly dodging rumors, speculation, and pressure from every direction. That doesn’t erase unrelated allegations or public criticism, but it does add another layer to Spacey’s account of how he experienced those years.
Has Kevin Spacey’s Hollywood exile lasted long enough?
Maher also questioned whether nearly a decade without major Hollywood work amounts to a punishment in itself.
“A 10-year sentence is a serious sentence.”
Spacey agreed, arguing that public attitudes may finally be changing as people revisit the outcomes of his legal cases.
“I feel less in jail than I did. When people actually start to hear the facts, understand what we won in courts, I think people now look at this and think, ‘Maybe nine years has been enough.’”
Kevin Spacey says, “I hit on a lot of guys. I never said there was no fire. It just wasn’t a raging forest fire.”
He added that he has won “in every court we’ve gone into with a jury” and believes his career is now moving in the direction he hoped it would.
“There are certain… pic.twitter.com/HOpdVDRbfp
— Movies Scenes 🎫 (@SceneinCinema) June 29, 2026
Whether the film industry agrees remains uncertain. While Spacey has appeared in a handful of smaller international productions since his acquittal, the blockbuster roles that once made him one of Hollywood’s most recognizable leading men have yet to return. Studios, audiences, and fellow actors continue to wrestle with the complicated question of separating legal outcomes from public trust.
A comeback that still divides audiences
Kevin Spacey’s latest interview isn’t simply about reliving old headlines. It’s another attempt to reshape the conversation around his legacy—one that now includes discussions about due process, accountability, cancel culture, and what it meant to spend decades as a closeted gay man in Hollywood.
For LGBTQ audiences especially, those topics don’t exist in neat little boxes. The experience of being closeted can evoke empathy. The allegations and controversies continue to spark debate. Both realities can exist at the same time, making Spacey’s story far more complicated than a simple comeback narrative.
The biggest question may no longer be whether Kevin Spacey wants to return. He’s made that abundantly clear. The real question is whether audiences are ready to welcome him back—or whether, for many people, that chapter remains firmly closed.
What do you think? Are you ready for Kevin Spacey’s return to Hollywood, or do you think his career should remain in the past?