Responding to the sexual abuse allegations against him, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” director Bryan Singer has called the accusations “outrageous, vicious and completely false.”
Singer also said that he will not participate in the promotional campaign for the upcoming Fox tentpole, due out May 23, to prevent the “fictitious claims” from diverting attention from the film.
The full statement, issued on Thursday, is below:
“The allegations against me are outrageous, vicious and completely false. I do not want these fictitious claims to divert ANY attention from ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past.’ This fantastic film is a labor of love and one of the greatest experiences of my career. So, out of respect to all of the extraordinary contributions from the incredibly talented actors and crew involved, I’ve decided not to participate in the upcoming media events for the film. However, I promise when this situation is over, the facts will show this to be the sick twisted shake down it is. I want to thank fans, friends and family for all their amazing and overwhelming support.”
Singer issued the statement eight days after the filing of a lawsuit in Hawaii federal court by Michael Egan, who alleged that he had been coerced into sex in California and Hawaii in 1998 and 1999. Egan claims he was 15 years old when Singer forcibly sodomized him; and that when he was 17, Singer forced him to inhale cocaine and later forced him to have oral and anal sex.
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Egan also sued veteran executives Garth Ancier, Gary Goddard and David Neuman on Monday and made similar allegations — all of which have been emphatically denied by the execs.
Goddard’s attorney has noted that Egan was among the plaintiffs who filed a civil suit in 2000 against Michael Collins-Rector and others over alleged sexual abuse, in a case in which a default judgment was entered against the defendants, according to court records. Collins-Rector is described in Egan’s lawsuits as the resident of the Encino estate where wild parties were held in which underage boys were given drugs and alcohol and forced to perform sex with older men.
The Egan suits were filed in federal court in Hawaii, which has an April 24 cutoff date for old sex abuse cases to be filed under a two-year window established by the state legislature, which temporarily suspends the statute of limitations in civil sex abuse cases.
Egan made four claims against Singer and each of the three execs — intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, battery and invasion of privacy by unreasonable intrusion. Each of the suits recounts in explicit detail the sexual acts that took allegedly place between Egan and each of the men in Hawaii in 1999.
“Somebody has to stand up to these people,” said the 31-year-old Egan at a news conference Monday.
After Egan filed his suit against Singer on April 16, Singer bowed out of a scheduled appearance for Fox’s presentation of “Days of Future Past” set to be held at WonderCon a few days later. Writer-producer Simon Kinberg appeared at the event on behalf of the film.
Singer’s attorney Martin Singer (no relation) said last week that the claims against his client were “completely fabricated“ and announced that he would bring a claim of malicious prosecution against Egan and his attorney Jeff Herman “after we prevail.”
