Queen's Brian May Apologises For Defending Director Bryan Singer

Last week, Bohemian Rhapsody was nominated for no less than Five Academy Awards. The reverie surrounding the potential accolades was somewhat tarnished by a report in the Atlantic the following day.

Director Bryan Singer had been implicated with allegations of unlawful sex with minors. The alleged abuse of underage boys had reportedly spanned a number of decades.

The Atlantic report contained accusations from a further four anonymous men, who all maintained that Singer had sex with them while they were underage. One of the allegations included a claim of rape.

Singer responded via Variety to The Atlantic article claiming the report was a “homophobic smear piece.” Despite being replaced by Dexter Fletcher for the last few weeks of the film's production, Singer remains the credited director.

Last week, Queen guitarist Brian May wrote an Instagram post, regarding the controversy which many have perceived as support for the director.

Entertainment site, The Mary Sue observed that May had reacted to an Instagram user who said that the guitarist should, “unfollow Bryan Singer after what he has done.” May responded to that user telling them to mind their own business.

In case you were wondering how the people who fought to let Bryan Singer direct Bohemian Rhapsody felt about The Atlantic story. pic.twitter.com/GDC6co5l5e

— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) January 24, 2019

Now May has said sorry for his Instagram post, saying, “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.” May then confirmed that he has now unfollowed Singer.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Dear Folks - I was shocked and saddened to realise what I had done by my hasty and inconsiderate IG reply to this lady yesterday. I’ve posted an apology to her in the ‘reply’ box, but it seems to have disappeared - so I’m going to try to repeat it here, to be clear. ———- Dear Sue, 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 removed 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. Bri

A post shared by Brian Harold May (@brianmayforreal) on Jan 24, 2019 at 8:25pm PST

Source: Stereogum

Don’t forget you can keep up-to-date on all things Nova over on our Instagram page – follow us for all the craziness of radio life coupled with news, sports and LOTS of cool competitions! Click here…