For the past six months, Bohemian Rhapsody has been blasted by many critics who accuse the movie of avoiding the darker aspects of Freddie Mercury’s story and refusing to fully acknowledge all aspects of his sexuality and life. It is a charge that has been robustly rebuffed and attacked by Queen legend Brian May, himself. Now, though, the film is under fire for the horrifying allegations made against its original director, Brian Singer. One of the highest profile awards ceremonies in Hollywood has dropped the movie over the “unspeakable” crimes he is accused of committing.
GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has released a statement explaining the decision to drop Bohemian Rhapsody from consideration.
The organisation is particularly powerful in Hollywood and this is a particularly hard judgement since the film would have been expected to be supported for positioning a gay storyline front and centre in a major studio release.
The statement to Variety said: “In light of the latest allegations against director Bryan Singer, GLAAD has made the difficult decision to remove ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ from contention for a GLAAD Media Award in the Outstanding Film – Wide Release category this year. This week’s story in The Atlantic documenting unspeakable harms endured by young men and teenage boys brought to light a reality that cannot be ignored or even tacitly rewarded.”
The Atlantic has published a major investigation into the allegations made against Singer about sexual acts involving underage men. The publication says the report was researched over 12 months with over 50 sources.
A catalogue of alleged offences is listed involving boys as young as 13 years old, with some of the young men speaking publicly for the first time.
The statement from GLAAD also denounces Singer’s response to the new article: “(Singer) wrongfully used ‘homophobia’ to deflect from sexual assault allegations and GLAAD urges the media and the industry at large to not gloss over the fact that survivors of sexual assault should be put first.”
Variety reports that representatives for Singer and Bohemian Rhapsody’s studio 20th Century Fox “had no immediate comment” to the statement.
The allegations against Singer follow similar cases involving Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. When reports of alleged sexual abuse and coercion emerged against Spacey, he was also blasted for trying to use coming out as gay as a way to deflect from the charges.
Singer left the production of Bohemian Rhapsody in December 2017, three weeks before filming finished, and was replaced by Dextre Fletcher. The headline-grabbing departure took place under acrimonious circumstances but before the latest round of allegations began to emerge. There were reports of clashes with leading man Rami Malek and the cast and producers have largely ignored Singer’s involvement ever since.
Whether the current allegations will impact the movie and Malek’s hopes at the Oscars remains to be seen.
