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Fired Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer denies sexually assaulting 17-year-old boy

Singer, who was dropped from upcoming Queen biopic three days ago, has been accused of assault Cesar Sanchez-Guzman on a yacht in 2003

Roisin O'Connor
Friday 08 December 2017 09:01 GMT
Bryan Singer
Bryan Singer (Getty)

Bryan Singer has categorically denied allegations that he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old boy.

The X Men director, who was recently fired from his role as director of Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, is accused of sexually assaulting Cesar Sanchez on a yacht in 2003.

A court filing states the alleged incident took place during a party on the vessel, which was owned by "a wealthy tech investor who frequently hosted parties for young gay males in the Seattle area", Deadline reports.

During the party, Singer reportedly offered to give Sanchez-Guzman a tour, where he "lured Cesar into a room, shut the door and demanded that Cesar perform oral sex," despite Sanchez-Gusman pleading for him to stop.

"When the plaintiff refused, Bryan Singer forced him into acts of oral and anal sex", the filing alleges.

It also claims Singer offered to help the accuser with an acting career provided he did not tell anyone about the alleged incident. Singer also reportedly told Sanchez-Guzman he could get people to ruin his reputation if he said anything.

Singer has been accused of sexual misconduct in the past. According to Deadline, Michael Egan III filed a civil suit against the director, allegation that he drugged him and forced him to have sex at parties in Encino and Hawaii when he was a teenager. However Egan later admitted he never left the mainland and withdrew his suit, which was dismissed without prejudice - giving Egan leeway to refile a claim against Singer.

A 14-year-old extra also filed a lawsuit which claimed the director forced him and other minors to strip naked for a scene in a shower room during the filming of Apt Pupil in 1997, but the civil case was dismissed.

Singer was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody three days ago. In a statement he refuted reports that the decision came from a disagreement he had with lead actor Rami Malek.

A statement issued via a spokesperson to Rolling Stone said: "Bryan categorically denies these allegations and will vehemently defend this lawsuit to the very end. Cesar Sanchez-Guzman apparently claims that he did not remember this alleged incident from 2003 until now. Significantly, when Sanchez-Guzman filed for bankruptcy only a few years ago, he failed to disclose this alleged claim when he was supposed to identify all of his assets, but conveniently, now that the bankruptcy court discharged all of his debts, he is able to recall the alleged events.

"The attorney behind this lawsuit is the same lawyer who represented Michael Egan, the convicted felon who sued Bryan Singer in 2014. In the end, Egan was forced to dismiss that case once the facts came out and his story fell apart. Egan and his attorneys then found themselves as defendants in a malicious prosecution action brought by some of the individuals who Egan previously sued. In an apology to those individuals, Egan's attorney acknowledged the claims that had been filed were 'untrue and provably false'. Notwithstanding his track record, this same lawyer is coming after Bryan again.

"We are confident that this case will turn out the same way the Egan case did. And once Bryan prevails, he will pursue his own claims for malicious prosecution."

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