A shocking new story has emerged about the claims of young men who say that in their teens, they were raped or taken advantage of by Hollywood film director Bryan Singer and his associates.
The story, by The Atlantic, talks about old sex abuse cases against Singer as well as new claims that had never been heard before. The article reveals a pattern of years of alleged sexual abuse committed by the 53-year-old director.
The article alleges that Singer seduced boys with promises of money and opportunity, attention, and drugs and alcohol, and that he may have been part of a sex ring that supplied men with underage boys. Most of the boys ended up confused, drug-addicted, and in one or two cases dead.
The accusations of sex abuse by Singer go back to his 1998 movie Apt Pupil. During the filming of Apt Pupil, starring heavyweight actor Ian McKellen and a young Brad Renfro, the production came into crisis after a scene involving naked boys and men.
Lawsuits emerged against Singer and the production claiming that at least five minors were bullied into stripping naked for the scene. The lawsuits were eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.
One man who was a boy in the film has alleged that Singer kept him out at the back in a locker room away from the active part of the set and told him to wait there. He said Singer came back there periodically.
“I was frozen. Speechless,” Victor Valdovinos, who was 13-years-old at the time of filming, told The Atlantic. “He came back to where I was in the locker room throughout the day to molest me.”
Renfro, the lead actor in the film, was 14-years-old at the time of the filming. Sources told The Atlantic that Singer sometimes referred to Renfro as his boyfriend. Another boy, who met Singer when he was 15 through an associate, remembers seeing Renfro with Singer at a party, looking bored. Renfro died at age 25 of a drug overdose.
The boy, referred to as Andy in the article, described what he noticed of Renfro at the time.
“Like me, he looked around at all of the things these guys had, all of the money. Maybe he thought the guys were going to do things for him.”
To be close to Singer and his team, and the opportunities that boys and young men believed it afforded them, you had to be desirable to him or introduce him to boys that were, according to the article.
The article also explores an internet startup that Singer invested in, Den or ‘Digital Entertainment Network,’ a company that produced video content for 14 to 24-year-olds and was run by a guy not unlike Singer. The company was notorious for its troubles and eventually ended due to its involvement in connecting men with boys for rape and sexual abuse during parties at its company headquarters, according to The Atlantic.
Singer met some of the boys he abused there. He was alleged to be a regular attendee at Den parties. Although Singer has managed to escape legal consequences for his alleged involvement, Den’s CEO Marc Collins-Rector did jail time and is now a registered sex offender. Singer and his legal team, on the other hand, have either managed to shut down, delay, or settle legal action against him away from the spotlight.
One victim said, after Singer raped him on a yacht, that the director with a grotesque smile told him not to tell anyone.
“Nobody is going to believe you,” Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, 17-years-old at the time, remembers Singer telling him.
Sanchez-Guzman was introduced to Singer by tech millionaire Lester Waters. Sanchez-Guzman told The Atlantic that Waters said he should feel lucky that Singer took a liking to him, and that Waters laughed about it.
Singer allegedly continued to connect with boys during lawsuits, and as he filmed and produced X-Men movies and other films. But Singer was temperamental and eventually fired towards the end of filming during his last directing role in “Bohemian Rhapsody” for delaying the picture by disappearing from production.
Singer is still scheduled to direct the comic book adaption “Red Sonja.”