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Kevin Spacey's new accuser has Norwegian royal connection

Danish-Norwegian writer Ari Behn is the 16th man to accuse Spacey of sexual misconduct.
Kevin Spacey onstage to present Britannia Award for Excellence in Television presented by Swarovski at the 2017 AMD British Academy Britannia Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 27, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California.

A new accuser — this one with a Norwegian royal connection — has come forward to tell Norwegian media that Kevin Spacey groped him under a table at a Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo 10 years ago.

Danish-Norwegian writer Ari Behn, formerly married to Princess Märtha Louise and father of three, on Thursday became the 16th man to accuse Spacey of sexual misconduct in the wake of a flood of allegations that have helped fell prominent men in entertainment, politics, media, business and fashion over the last two months.

Behn told the Norwegian radio station, P4, that Spacey grabbed his genitals while suggesting a cigarette break during the annual Peace Prize Concert that Spacey was co-hosting that year (with Uma Thurman).

"We had a nice conversation, he was sat next to me," Behn, 46, told the radio station according to stories in The Daily Mail and the Telegraph in London. "After five minutes, he says, 'Hey, let's go out and have a cigarette,' and then he touched me right on the (genitals) under the table."

"Kevin Spacey grabbed my crown jewels," declared the ever-cheeky Daily Mail's headline on the story.

Princess Maertha Louise of Norway and her husband Ari Behn attend the royal wedding of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and Sofia Hellqvist at The Royal Palace on June 13, 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Behn is a novelist, short-story writer and playwright, who has also worked as a model and a designer.

In 2002, Behn married Princess Märtha Louise, 46, the only daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja, and fourth in line to the Norwegian throne after her brother Crown Prince Haakon and his two children.

Their wedding was of keen interest in Norway; later the two wrote a book about the nuptials.

In 2016, the Norwegian royal court announced that Behn and the princess were to going to divorce, the first in the modern history of the Norwegian royal family. The couple has joint custody of their three daughters, Maud, 14, Leah, 12, and Emma, 9.

Spacey's rep did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY. Spacey checked into an Arizona luxury rehab center for sex addiction therapy last month.

In fact, Spacey has said almost nothing in response to the accusations against him except after the first one: He apologized to actor Anthony Rapp who said in October that Spacey made sexual moves on him in 1986 in his New York apartment when Rapp was 14. But Spacey also said he couldn't remember the alleged encounter.

Fifteen other men have since come forward to describe inappropriate encounters with Spacey, as recent as 2016 and as long ago as 1983. This does not include 20 anonymous complaints made against him for alleged misconduct at the Old Vic Theatre in London where Spacey was artistic director 2004-2015.

The consequences for Spacey have been catastrophic to his career and reputation, including the humiliation of being summarily fired from House of Cards and seeing his role in a soon-to-open movie re-shot with another actor. And he is under criminal investigation for alleged sexual assaults in both London and in Nantucket, Mass.

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