LONDON (AP) — Elton John briefly testified Monday for the protection at Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault trial because the actor’s lawyer tried to discredit a person who claimed the Oscar winner aggressively grabbed his crotch whereas driving to the singer’s summer season ball.

John appeared within the London court docket by video hyperlink from Monaco after his husband, David Furnish, testified that Spacey didn’t attend the annual celebration at their Windsor residence the yr the accuser mentioned he was attacked.

One of many alleged victims mentioned he was driving Spacey to the White Tie & Tiara Ball in 2004 or 2005 when the actor grabbed him so forcefully he virtually ran off the highway.

Furnish supported Spacey’s personal testimony that he solely attended the occasion in 2001. Furnish mentioned he had reviewed images taken on the celebration from 2001 to 2005 and Spacey solely appeared in photos that one yr. He mentioned all friends had been photographed annually.

John mentioned the actor attended the celebration within the early 2000s and arrived after flying in on a personal jet.

Furnish mentioned Spacey’s look was a shock and he remembered it as a result of it was an enormous deal.

“He was an Oscar-winning actor and there was a number of buzz and pleasure that he was on the ball,” Furnish mentioned.

John mentioned he solely remembered Spacey coming as soon as to the gala and mentioned the actor spent the night time at their home after the occasion. He additionally confirmed that Spacey purchased a Mini Cooper on the public sale held that night time for the Elton John AIDS Basis.

The alleged sufferer mentioned he could have gotten the yr fallacious, however that he wouldn’t have forgotten the incident as a result of it took his breath away and he virtually crashed the automotive.

The timeline, nevertheless, is necessary as a result of the person testified that Spacey had fondled him over a number of years starting within the early 2000s. The incident was the ultimate event, he mentioned, when he threatened to hit the actor after which averted him.

Spacey mentioned the 2 had been mates they usually engaged in some romantic contact however the man was straight, so the actor revered his needs to not go additional. He mentioned he was crushed when he discovered the person had complained to police about him and mentioned the person had “reimagined” what had been consensual touching.

Furnish mentioned he was aware of the accuser and described him as “charming,” the identical time period Spacey used.

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not responsible to a dozen costs that embrace sexual and indecent assault counts and one rely of inflicting an individual to have interaction in penetrative sexual exercise with out consent.

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Over two days of testimony final week, the two-time Academy Award winner insisted that he by no means sexually assaulted three of the 4 accusers who described disturbing encounters between 2001 and 2013. The acts allegedly escalated from undesirable touching to aggressive fondling to at least one occasion of performing oral intercourse act on an unconscious man.

Spacey dismissed one man’s fondling claims as “pure fantasy” and mentioned he shared consensual encounters with two others who later regretted it. He accepted the claims of a fourth man, saying he had made a “clumsy cross” throughout an evening of heavy consuming, however he took exception to the “crotch-grabbing” characterization.

John’s testimony comes simply over per week after he wrapped up his 50-year touring profession with a present in Stockholm.

It’s the second time the “Rocket Man” star and Furnish have made appearances in a London courtroom this yr. The 2 confirmed up at hearings of their cellphone hacking lawsuit with Prince Harry in opposition to the writer of the Every day Mail newspaper.

The couple, the Duke of Sussex and actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost are amongst a bunch of claimants that allege Related Newspapers Ltd. violated their privateness by intercepting voicemails and utilizing illegal strategies to listen in on them.

A choose is deciding whether or not to throw out the case after the writer mentioned the group waited too lengthy to carry their claims.