Queen's Brian May apologizes after appearing to defend Bryan Singer: 'No such offense was intended'

Mike Miller
Updated

Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May is apologizing after he appeared to come to the defense of Bohemian Rhapsody director Bryan Singer on the same day The Atlantic published an exposé detailing new allegations that Singer had sexual contact with underage boys.

“I am mortified to discover the effect my words produced,” May wrote on Instagram Thursday night.

On Wednesday, May responded to fan on Instagram who suggested he unfollow Singer, writing, “You need to look after your own business and stop telling me what to do. And you need to learn to respect the fact that a man or woman is innocent until proven guilty.”

May issued an apology for the remark on Thursday, speaking directly to the woman he responded to, as well as “anyone else out there that I inadvertently offended.”

“I’m so sorry that I responded to your post so snappily and inconsiderately,” he wrote. “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.”

He continued, “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 went on to say that he was only following the director because he was filming the Queen biopic, which Singer was fired from more than halfway into production by Fox, which, at the time, cited his “unexpected unavailability.” Singer later hit back, saying Fox wouldn’t allow him to take “some time off so I could return to the U.S. to deal with pressing health matters concerning one of my parents.” He was ultimately replaced by Dexter Fletcher.

In his apology, May confirmed that he has unfollowed the director. “I’m so sorry. This must have caused you a lot of upset,” he added. “I wish I could take the comment back, but all I can do is apologize, and hope that my apology will begin to make amends.”

Read his full statement below:

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 sacked 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

Singer has been accused of sexual misconduct in the past, but The Atlantic’s article — the result of 12 months of investigation and interviews with more than 50 sources — includes four new allegations from men speaking out for the first time. Singer has denied the allegations in the Atlantic piece.

The article was published a day after the Rami Malek-starring biopic Bohemian Rhapsody received multiple Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. However, GLAAD has announced that they would be removing Bohemian Rhapsody from contention for this year’s GLAAD Media Awards in light of the latest allegations against Singer.