Brian May apologises for appearing to defend Bryan Singer over sexual assault claims

25 January 2019, 11:19 | Updated: 25 January 2019, 11:25

Queen's Brian May and US director and producer Bryan Singer. Picture: Dave Bedrosian/Geisler-Fotopress/DPA/PA Images & Sipa USA/SIPA USA/PA Images

The Queen guitarist has taken to Instagram to apologise to a fan suggesting he unfollow the Hollywood producer and director.

Brian May has publicly apologised for appearing to defend Bryan Singer.

The Hollywood producer and director, who was dropped during the making of Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, has faced allegations of sexual assault and claims that he allegedly assaulted and slept with underage boys.

After a fan advised May to unfollow Bryan Singer on Twitter, the Queen guitarist angrily responded: "“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".

See a screenshot of their exchange on Instagram below:

In case you were wondering how the people who fought to let Bryan Singer direct Bohemian Rhapsody felt about The Atlantic story. pic.twitter.com/GDC6co5l5e
— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) January 24, 2019

However, after coming under fire from many groups on social media, Brian May has taken back to the platform to issue an unreserved apology to the fan in question and anyone who felt offended by his remarks.

His message began: "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."

The We Will Rock You guitarist continued: "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."

See his full Instagram post 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 removed 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

He added: "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 removed 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. "

May concluded: "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".

The trouble coincided with the GLAAD Awards decision to withdrawal Bohemian Rhapsody's nomination for Best Original Film.

In a statement to Variety, GLAAD 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".

“Singer’s response to The Atlantic story 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,” the statement continued.