Italian poet Gabriele Tinti has said it was “an honour” to have Kevin Spacey read his poem about a boxer facing repeated blows in a surprise appearance in Rome.
The US actor, who has faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, appeared in front of the Boxer at Rest statue at the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme in Italy to read The Boxer, about a tired fighter who has been used for entertainment and then left bleeding by the ringside.
Tinti wrote on Twitter: “What a wonderful night! Everyone was so happy to celebrate art, it was an honor to have Kevin Spacey reading my poems, Rome loves you! A picture is worth a thousand words 😉 #theboxer.”
Spacey read lines including: “They used me for their entertainment, fed on shoddy stuff. Life was over in a moment.”
Last month prosecutors in the US dropped a case accusing the actor of groping a teenager at a bar in 2016, which he denied.
The Hollywood actor faces six allegations of sexual assault in the UK between 1996 and 2013.
Spacey was voluntarily interviewed under caution by Scotland Yard detectives – he was not arrested – in May.
Actor Anthony Rapp also alleged he was 14 when Spacey, then 26, made a sexual advance to him in 1986.
Spacey said he did not remember the alleged encounter, but apologised for any “inappropriate drunken behaviour”.
The Oscar-winning actor was artistic director at London’s The Old Vic theatre between 2004 and 2015.
The theatre later found 20 people claimed they had been subjected to inappropriate behaviour from the actor.
The star was sacked from the Netflix show House Of Cards and Sir Ridley Scott erased him from his completed film All The Money In The World, recasting Christopher Plummer in the role with re-shoots costing millions.
Last year, Spacey posted a bizarre video to YouTube, appearing in the guise of Frank Underwood, his Machiavellian US president from House Of Cards, saying: “I’m certainly not going to pay the price for the thing I didn’t do.”