TURIN, Italy (AP) — Making his first speaking appearance since #MeToo-era allegations derailed his career, actor Kevin Spacey used a colorful Italian term to thank the National Cinema Museum in the northern city of Turin Monday for having the courage to invite him.

Spacey received a lifetime achievement award from the museum, discussed key roles during a master class and then introduced the 1999 film “American Beauty,” for which he won his second acting Oscar, to a sold-out crowd.

“I am truly blessed and grateful and humbled. And my heart is very full tonight toward the National Museum of Cinema for having had the “le palle” to invite me tonight,” Spacey said, using the Italian word for a male body part synonymous with courage, to cheers from the master class audience.

“By presenting this award, they are making a strong defense of artistic achievement and for that they should be applauded,” Spacey said.

Previous winners of the Stella della Mole Award include actors Isabella Rossellini and Monica Bellucci, and director Dario Argento.

The sold-out events were billed as Spacey’s first speaking engagements in five years. After multiple allegations of sexual assault surfaced, the actor lost his starring role on the Netflix series “House of Cards” and saw other opportunities dry up.

Spacey did not directly address the allegations while accepting the award or during the hourlong class. But while noting the loyalty of many fans, he said “the bond I share with them will not be easily broken by unrestrained, ever-shifting mobocratic ties.”

He choked up as he thanked his manager Evan Lowenstein for his support, calling him “the brother I never had.”

Spacey said he was also “enormously grateful” to Italian director Frank Nero, who hired him for a role in “The Man Who Drew God,” which was filmed in Turin. Spacey will be on hand when the film will be previewed later this week in Rome.

After the master class, fans lined up to take selfies and get DVDs signed.

“I actually missed him, and I think he had a great role in the cinema. He made Netflix what it is today,” said Chiara Ottolini, referring to the enormous success of “House of Cards.” “I am so happy to see that he is coming back, because we have to separate the man and the artist.’’

Mery Bicci traveled from Milan to see Spacey, who she regards as one of the best actors ever. She said she would have traveled even further.

“When the scandal happened, I went into mourning because I knew very well that they would ostracize him right away,” she said.

Spacey is scheduled to go on trial in London in June on a dozen charges alleging he sexually assaulted four men between 2001 and 2013, including when he was the artistic director at the city’s Old Vic theater. He has pleaded not guilty.

In October, a federal jury in a New York civil case found that Spacey, 63, did not sexually abuse actor Anthony Rapp when both were relatively unknown Broadway actors in 1986 and Rapp was 14 years old. The jurors deliberated a little more than an hour before deciding that Rapp, now 50, hadn’t proven his allegations.

Spacey previously faced allegations in Massachusetts that he groped a man at a bar. Prosecutors later dropped the charges.

A judge in Los Angeles in August approved an arbitrator’s decision to order Spacey to pay $30.9 million to the makers of “House of Cards” for violating his contract by sexually harassing crew members.

Elena Cortini, a university design student who was seeing “American Beauty” for the second time, said she didn’t know what to make about the allegations, and preferred to focus on the craftsmanship in the 1999 film.

“If he is putting his life back together as he said, good for him,” she said.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin Spacey and his production companies must pay the studio behind “House of Cards” more than $30 million because of losses brought on by his firing for sexual misconduct, according to an arbitration decision made final Monday.

A document filed in Los Angeles Superior Court requesting a judge’s approval of the ruling says that the arbitrators found that Spacey violated his contract’s demands for professional behavior by “engaging certain conduct in connection with several crew members in each of the five seasons that he starred in and executive produced House of Cards.”

MRC, the studio behind “House of Cards,” had to fire Spacey, halt production of the show’s sixth season, rewrite it to remove Spacey’s central character, and shorten it from 13 to eight episodes to meet deadlines, resulting in tens of millions in losses, the document said.

“The safety of our employees, sets and work environments is of paramount importance to MRC and why we set out to push for accountability,” MRC said in a statement Monday.

A representative for Spacey did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. His attorneys argued that the actor’s actions were not a substantial factor in the show’s losses.

The ruling came after a legal fight of more than three years and an eight-day evidentiary hearing that was kept secret from the public, along with the rest of the dispute.

Spacey appealed the decision to a panel of three more private arbitrators, who found for the plaintiffs, making the decision final, and public, on Monday.

“MRC stood its ground, pursued this case doggedly, and obtained the right result in the end,” plaintiff’s attorney Michael Kump said in a statement.

The 62-year-old Oscar winner’s career came to an abrupt halt late in 2017 as the #MeToo movement gained momentum.

Actor Anthony Rapp, who has appeared in “Rent” on Broadway and film as well as in “Star Trek: Discovery” on television, said Spacey made a sexual advance on him when he was 14 at a party in the 1980s.

At the time, Spacey issued a statement saying he didn’t remember the encounter but apologized.

Several other accusers followed. Some, including Rapp, have filed lawsuits.

Independent investigations found widespread sexual harassment of those who worked under him.

Spacey was fired or removed from several projects, most notably “House of Cards,” the Netflix political thriller where for five seasons he played lead character Frank Underwood, a power-hungry congressman who becomes president.

The one criminal case brought against him, an indecent assault and battery charge stemming from the alleged groping of an 18-year-old man at a Nantucket resort, was dismissed by Massachusetts prosecutors in 2019.

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