Bryan Singer, the director of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” is facing new allegations published in the Atlantic on Wednesday that he engaged in sexual misconduct with underage boys.
In the report, four men allege that Singer had sexual encounters with them when they were teenagers in the late 1990s. One of the men, Victor Valdovinos, says he was a 13-year-old extra on the set of “Apt Pupil” when Singer fondled his genitals.
The three other accusers are identified in the story by pseudonyms. One, identified in the story as Andy, says that he had sex with Singer when he was 15. Another man, identified as Eric, says he was 17 when he began having sex with the director. Singer would have been 31 at the time. The third man, Ben, alleges that he and Singer had oral sex when he was 17 or 18.
“He would stick his hands down your pants without consent,” the man told the Atlantic. “He was predatory in that he would ply people with alcohol and drugs and then have sex with them.”
Singer’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, denied to the magazine that Singer had ever had sex with underage boys, and disputed various details of the accusers’ accounts.
Singer was fired two weeks before the end of production on “Bohemian Rhapsody” in December 2017. The film received five Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, including best picture and best actor for Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. Singer remains the credited director, but was not nominated. He is next scheduled to direct “Red Sonja” for Millennium Films.
The authors of the Atlantic article, Alex French and Maximillian Potter, spoke to 50 sources over the course of a 12-month investigation. French and Potter are both affiliated with Esquire, French as a writer at large and Potter as the editor at large. The article was initially expected to appear in that magazine.
On Oct. 15, Singer posted on Instagram that Esquire was looking to write a negative article about him.
“In today’s climate where people’s careers are being harmed by mere accusations, what Esquire is attempting to do is a reckless disregard for the truth, making assumptions that are fictional and irresponsible,” Singer wrote.
In April 2014, Michael Egan sued Singer, alleging that the director had raped him several times in Hawaii in 1999, when Egan was 17. That case was dropped several months later, after discrepancies emerged in Egan’s story.
Cesar Sanchez-Guzman sued Singer in December 2017, claiming that Singer raped him on a yacht in 2003. Singer has denied the allegation, and the case is still pending.
“The industry will brush things under the rug and pretend nothing happened,” Sanchez-Guzman told the magazine. “Most people don’t see the truth.”