Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek has spoken on the allegations of sexual assault levied against the film’s director, Bryan Singer, which were published in The Atlantic last month. During a discussion at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival yesterday, Malek was asked about the allegations by the Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg. “My heart goes out to anyone who has to live through anything like what I’ve heard and what is out there. It’s awful, it’s remarkable that this happens, I can appreciate so much what they’ve been through and how difficult this must be for them,” Malek said. “In the light of the Me Too era, that this somehow seems to exist after that, it’s a horrible thing.”

In the January report, Singer was accused by four men of sexually assaulting them when they were minors. Shortly after it was published, Singer issued a denial, writing, “It is no surprise that, with Bohemian Rhapsody being an award-winning hit, this homophobic smear piece has been conveniently timed to take advantage of its success.” Singer had been accused of sexual assault before the Atlantic piece as well; in 2017, he was sued by Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, who accused the director of assaulting him in 2003 when he was 17 years old.

At the end of 2017, production on the film was halted before Singer was ultimately fired due to “unexpected unavailability.” When news of his termination broke, it was also reported that he and Malek had clashed on set, including an reported instance where Singer threw an object at Malek during a confrontation. Malek addressed that as well. “I’ve sat here and talked about how everyone deserves a voice and anyone who wants to talk about what happened with Bryan deserves to have their voice heard,” the actor said. “In my situation with Bryan, it was not pleasant, not at all. And that’s about what I can say about it at this point.”

After the allegations against Singer were reported in January, Queen guitarist Brian May appeared to defend the director on Instagram, writing to a fan, “You need to learn to respect the fact that a man or woman is innocent until proven guilty.” He subsequently apologized for and retracted his comments. Bohemian Rhapsody was removed from the nominations of this year’s GLAAD Media Awards following the allegations.

https://pitchfork.com/news/rami-malek-speaks-on-bryan-singer-sexual-assault-allegations-its-a-horrible-thing