Bryan Singer is facing new allegations that he either molested or had sex with underage boys in the late 1990s.
Bryan Singer is facing new allegations from four men that he either molested or had sex with them when they were teenagers in the late 1990s.
In a new report by The Atlantic, the men talk about their allegations in detail, three of them asking for their identities to be concealed for privacy and fear of retaliation. The Atlantic says they've talked with more than 50 sources and identified certain details of their stories independently during a year-long investigation.
Singer has never been charged with a crime. In addition, his lawyer notes to the outlet "that Singer categorically denies ever having sex with, or a preference for, underage men."
In a statement to ET on Wednesday, Singer called the new report a "homophobic smear piece."
"The last time I posted about this subject, Esquire magazine was preparing to publish an article written by a homophobic journalist who has a bizarre obsession with me dating back to 1997," the statement reads. "After careful fact-checking and, in consideration of the lack of credible sources, Esquire chose not to publish this piece of vendetta journalism. That didn't stop this writer from selling it to The Atlantic. It's sad that The Atlantic would stoop to this low level of journalistic integrity. Again, I am forced to reiterate that this story rehashes claims from bogus lawsuits filed by a disreputable cast of individuals willing to lie for money and attention. And it is no surprise that, with Bohemian Rhapsody being an award-winning hit, this homophobic smear piece has been conventionally timed to take advantage of its success."
Meanwhile, the four men accusing Singer of sexual misconduct say the aftermath of their alleged incidents with the director negatively affected their lives -- in some cases, leading to drug abuse, anxiety and depression.
One accuser, Victor Valdovinos, says he and Singer crossed paths in 1997 when he was in the seventh grade and Singer's movie, Apt Pupil, was filming at his middle school in Altadena, California. He claims he first met Singer when he ran into him in a bathroom, and Singer -- who was then in his early 30s -- allegedly told him he was "so good-looking" and invited him to be in the film. Valdovinos, who was then 13, alleges that when he later showed up on set, he was asked to disrobe completely except for a towel around his waist. He alleges Singer directed him to a back room and he was instructed to wait, and when he came back, Singer molested him.
"He did it all with this smile,” Valdovinos alleges. “ ... I was frozen. Speechless. He came back to where I was in the locker room throughout the day to molest me.”
“It was embarrassing," he continues. "I didn’t want anyone to know. So I locked it away.”
Valdovinos says he eventually tried to contact an attorney to file a civil suit and filed a complaint with the California attorney general’s office. He says he was directed to go to the police, but that both attorneys and police told him too much time had passed.
Through his attorney, Singer told The Atlantic that he doesn't know who Valdovinos is and denied that anything had happened between them.
Another accuser, Ben, alleges he met Singer when he was 16 and had oral sex with him when he was either 17 or 18. He alleges he was passed around among other men in Singer’s social circle.
“He would stick his hands down your pants without your consent,” Ben alleges of Singer's behavior. “He was predatory in that he would ply people with alcohol and drugs and then have sex with them.”
The third accuser, Andy, alleges he first had sex with Singer when he was 15 -- and that Singer knew his age -- after being introduced to him by now-defunct Digital Entertainment Network (DEN) founding CEO Marc Collins-Rector. Singer would have been 31 at the time.
Andy claims that the late Brad Renfro -- who starred in 1998's Apt Pupil and died of an overdose in 2008 at the age of 25 -- was in the room with him and Singer, but didn't join in.
“I don’t think Brad was gay, or even bi," Andy says of Renfro. "I think he was going with the flow. We talked about it. Like me, he looked around at all of the things these guys had, all of the money. Maybe he thought the guys were going to do things for him.”
In 2000, a federal grand jury indicted Collins-Rector -- whom Andy also claims he had sex with when he was 14 years old before being introduced to Singer -- on charges related to transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of sex. After fleeing to Spain for two years, Collins-Rector ultimately pleaded guilty to nine charges of transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of sex and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
The fourth accuser, Eric, claims he began having sex with Singer when he was 17, and Singer was 31. He also alleges he had sexual relations with multiple men in the director's circle.
“If you weren’t young and cute enough to be their boy, you could still ingratiate yourself by bringing boys to them,” Eric claims. “That’s how I met Bryan, and that’s how I wound up at the DEN estate -- people trying to ingratiate themselves.”
"I never want people to think of me as a victim, so I always put up the front of ‘I’m good. I was in charge,'" he continues of how the alleged abuse has affected him. "But I spent a decade in therapy trying to figure out if what happened was bad or not bad. And if it was bad, was it my fault? What I’ve decided is that adults are supposed to look out for kids.”
This isn't the first time Singer has faced accusations of having sex with underage boys. In 2014, Michael F. Egan III sued Singer, alleging that Singer had raped him several times in 1999 when Egan was 17. Singer called Egan's claims "outrageous, vicious and completely false" at the time in a statement to ET, and the case was later dropped after several inconsistencies were found in Egan's story.
The Atlantic also spoke to Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, who sued Singer in December 2017, alleging that Singer raped him on a yacht in 2003 when he was 17. The case is still pending, and Sanchez-Guzman says he is frustrated with how slow it's moving. He also says he wasn't surprised that Singer's Bohemian Rhapsody -- his film that he was eventually fired from in December 2017 -- won Best Drama at the Golden Globes earlier this month.
“The industry will brush things under the rug and pretend nothing happened,” Sanchez-Guzman says. “Most people don’t see the truth.”