Kevin Spacey was given a standing ovation by an audience after he delivered a performance as part of a lecture about “cancel culture” at the University of Oxford. It was the first time the actor, 64, has performed on stage since he was acquitted of sexual assault against four men in a London trial that ended in July 2023. Spacey delivered a five-minute scene from William Shakespeare’s play Timon of Athens. Footage shows the audience standing to applaud him on Monday night (16 October), days after a West End cinema cancelled its offer to host the premiere of a British film when it found out he was featured in it. Spacey performed during a lecture in memory of Sir Roger Scruton, a philosopher who was “cancelled” as a government adviser after a “hit job” interview in the New Statesman.