A lawsuit against X-Men: Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer has been filed in Hawaii by a man who claims he was 17 when Singer sexually abused him in 1999. Meaning the press tour for X-Men: Days of Future Past, which opens in a month, just got reeeeal interesting.
The plaintiff, Michael Egan, claims he was 17 when Singer forcibly sodomized him, among other allegations. Egan’s lawyers, led by Jeff Herman, allege that Singer provided him with drugs and alcohol and flew him to Hawaii on more than one occasion in 1999. His suit claims battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy by unreasonable intrusion, and it seeks unspecified damages.
Singer’s attorney, Marty Singer [no relation, that I’m aware -Ed], called the lawsuit “absurd and defamatory.”
“The claims made against Bryan Singer are completely without merit,” the attorney said. “We are very confident that Bryan will be vindicated.”
Marc Collins-Rector, the former chairman of Digital Entertainment Network, an ambitious Internet startup that sputtered in the dotcom bust of 2000, is also cited in the Singer lawsuit, although he is not named as a defendant. He is accused of initiating the sexual abuse of Egan and arranging for Singer to assault Egan at a house in Encino, Calif.
Collins-Rector is a registered sex offender, having plead guilty in 2004 to luring minors across state lines for sexual acts.
The lawsuit alleges that Collins-Rector and his Digital Entertainment Network investors, including Singer, would lure young men to a house dubbed the M & C Estate in Encino to intoxicate and sexually assault a number of teenage boys and that many in the Hollywood industry were aware of the “notorious parties.” [Variety]
Yeesh. To be honest, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard rumors about Bryan Singer’s sketchy behavior on sets, but of course you hear various rumors all the time, and who knows what they even mean. And obviously, a rumor is a lot different than a rape accusation from an alleged victim. I guess we’ll see what Singer’s famous lawyer (who previously represented John Travolta, Tarantino in his case over loud birds, and Nic Cage in a suit by an ex-girlfriend, among many others) can do with this one. Despite all his troubles, Travolta got to present at the Oscars, clearly Marty Singer is a very good lawyer.
For the record, the age of consent in Hawaii is 16. Don’t look at me like that, I had to Google it, it’s not like I knew it by heart.