Bryan Singer has been accused of sexual assault and sex with a minor numerous times throughout his career, and four more survivors came forward this week when a bombshell article in The Atlantic detailed both their accounts and the culture of abuse that the Bohemian Rhapsody director’s helped to cultivate throughout his career.
Not everyone was moved by the piece, however, nor were they swayed by the fact that Singer’s abuse has been whispered about for so long that it’s considered an “open secret” in Hollywood. Producer Avi Lerner, for example, defended his decision to keep Singer on as the director of the upcoming Red Sonja, calling the accounts of sexual assault survivors “agenda driven fake news.” Now, Queen guitarist Brian May has expressed his support of Singer. As was pointed out by ScreenRant editor Kayleigh Donaldson, May defended Singer in the comments of an Instagram post.
After one fan urged May to unfollow Singer in the wake of the Atlantic piece, May responded by telling them to “look after your own business.” He continued, “And you need to learn to respect the fact that a man or woman is innocent until proven guilty.”
Update: May has taken to Instagram to clarify his comments and issue an apology. “I had no idea that saying someone was innocent until proven guilty could be interpreted as ‘defending’ Bryan Singer. I had absolutely no intention of doing that,” May said.
“I’m so sorry that I responded to your post so snappily and inconsiderately. My response was a result of my perception that someone was telling me what to do. I now realise that I was completely wrong in thinking that. You were actually just trying to protect me, for which I thank you. I am mortified to discover the effect my words produced. I had no idea that saying someone was innocent until proven guilty could be interpreted as ‘defending’ Bryan Singer. I had absolutely no intention of doing that. I guess I must be naive, because also it had never occurred to me that ‘following’ a person on Instagram could be interpreted as approving of that person. The only reason I followed Bryan Singer was that we were working with him on a project. That situation came to an end when Mr Singer was sacked during the shooting of the film, but I suppose unfollowing him never occurred to me as a necessity. Now, because of this misunderstanding, I have unfollowed. I’m so sorry. This must have caused you a lot of upset. I wish I could take the comment back, but all I can do is apologise, and hope that my apology will begin to make amends. Sadly, this is all very public, but since I snapped at you in public, it’s only fitting that I should apologise in public. I’m going to try to follow you so we can communicate privately if you want. With love – Bri. —— I should add that this is also a sincere apology to anyone else out there that I inadvertently offended. No such offence was intended and I will be more careful in future.”
May’s comments follow those of Rami Malek, who claimed that he somehow didn’t know about Singer’s history. Okay, buddy.
Anyways, Bohemian Rhapsody, which is embarrassing in how boring and by-the-book it is, is nominated for five Academy Awards.
