Bryan Singer. Photo courtesy of Sky News.
Summary: Cesar Sanchez-Guzman alleges Bryan Singer anally raped him and then offered to help his career.
On Thursday, Bryan Singer was sued by a man who said that the X-Men director raped him when he was 17-years-old. Singer was previously sued for sexual assault by former actor Michael Egan, but that case was dismissed.
The L.A. Times reported that Cesar Sanchez-Guzman said that the rape occurred in Seattle 14 years ago on a yacht. He said that he was at a party when Singer led him to a back room and forced him to give and receive oral sex before Singer anally raped him.
Sanchez-Guzman said that Singer, now 52, said he was a Hollywood producer who would help his acting career if he did not report the incident. The plaintiff alleged that he was warned Singer knew people who were “capable of ruining someone’s reputation” if he were to call the police.
Singer is represented by Andrew Brettler who said that Singer “categorically denies these allegations and will vehemently defend this lawsuit to the very end.”
Brettler threatened to file a malicious prosecution lawsuit against Sanchez-Guzman, and he said the plaintiff did not remember the 2003 incident until now. He added that Sanchez-Guzman did not disclose this rape claim when filing for bankruptcy.
In 2014, Singer was accused by another man who said Singer raped and sexually assaulted underage boys in Hawaii and London. The accuser, Michael Egan, also sued former Disney executive David Neuman, former television executive Garth Ancier and Broadway producer Gary Goddard. The defendants denied the claim, and the case was voluntarily withdrawn by Egan with the option to refile.
Although Egan’s case did not move forward, Goddard found himself in trouble again when actor Anthony Edwards said Goddard had raped him when he was starting out in the business. According to the L.A. Times, Goddard’s publicist denies these claims and called them defamatory.
Egan was represented by attorney Jeff Herman, who filed Sanchez-Guzman’s case along with Seattle lawyer Michael Pfau. Both lawyers declined to comment to the L.A. Times.
Besides rumors of sexual impropriety, Singer has faced professional hardship recently when he was fired by 20th Century Fox as director of the Queen biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Singer reportedly was absent frequently during production, and the director blamed this on his need to help with his mother’s health problems.
Singer spoke to TMZ and said he was not surprised to be fired and he hoped the rape allegations will not affect his career. He said he was not dismissed from the film because of Sanchez-Guzman’s lawsuit.
- TIME Names Silence Breakers of #MeToo as Person of the Year
- All of the Men Recently Accused of Sexual Harassment