Actor Kevin Spacey took the stand on Thursday in London to defend himself against allegations from four men of sexual assault.

Prosecutors rested their case on Wednesday after testimony from the alleged victims, one of whom called the Oscar-winner a “vile sexual predator” while another testified that Spacey grabbed his penis through his clothes  “like a cobra coming out and taking hold,” according to The Associated Press.

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to all counts. In his testimony Thursday morning, he said he was “crushed” when he heard testimony about a violent assault, which he said came from an “intimate” and “somewhat sexual” friendship.

“I never thought that (the man) I knew would … 20 years later stab me in the back,” Spacey said.

Spacey faces 12 counts over incidents that occurred from 2001 to 2013. Spacey has faced multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, including assault, since a 2017 accusation by actor Anthony Rapp and 15 other men cost him his job on the Netflix series “House of Cards.” None of the other accusations have come to fruition, but Rapp filed a lawsuit against Spacey in 2020. A jury, however, found Spacey not liable last year.

Spacey and his production companies, M. Profitt Productions and Trigger Street Productions, were ordered to pay $31 million to the producers of “House of Cards” for violations of its sexual harassment policy.

The first of the current charges in London were filed in May 2022.

Spacey presented himself as respectful and gentle in the encounters.

“He said things like, ‘This is new for me,’ so I think he may have been surprised by his reaction,” Spacey said of one of those. “The only thing he made clear was he didn’t want to go further than we were going and I respected that.”

Spacey faces prison if he is convicted on the charges.

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[Featured image: Actor Kevin Spacey arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London on June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)]