X-Men and The Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer made a pre-emptive Instagram post on Monday denying sexual assault accusations he says will appear in an upcoming Esquire article. “I have known for some time that Esquire magazine may publish a negative article about me,” he wrote, claiming that the article will “attempt to rehash false accusations.” Singer does not discuss the specifics of the article, but links to a Hollywood Reporter article about a rape accusation against attorney Jeff Herman, who has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, who alleges that Singer raped him when Sanchez-Guzman was 17. (The URL for the article is a bit.ly link that ends with “boguslawsuit.”)
Herman, a high-profile sex abuse lawyer whose clients include two Weinstein accusers, previously represented Michael Egan in accusations against Singer and three other gay men working in Hollywood. The allegations disintegrated within weeks, prompting Herman to revoke them and pay settlements to two of the men.
Singer included this report about Herman as evidence of what he calls “bogus lawsuits” levied against him and claimed that the upcoming Esquire article will “misuse quotes from ‘sources’ that will claim to have ‘intimate’ knowledge of my personal life.” The Esquire article has not yet been released, but Singer predicted that it will be “conveniently timed with the release of my film, Bohemian Rhapsody.” Singer was the film’s director until he was fired two weeks before production was wrapped for unprofessional behavior, specifically a failure to show up on set. He was replaced with Dexter Fletcher, although Singer has sole directing credit on the film.
Correction, Oct. 15, 2018: This post originally misstated that Jeff Herman represented Michael Egan in 2014 sexual assault complaints filed against three gay men including Bryan Singer. The suit was filed against Singer and three other gay men.
