Director Bryan Singer is being sued for allegedly raping and forcibly performing oral sex on a 17-year-old boy in 2003.
According to a lawsuit filed Thursday and obtained by TMZ, Singer was in attendance at a party on tech investor Lester Waters’ yacht in Seattle in 2003 when he allegedly offered to give then-17-year-old Cesar Sanchez-Guzman a tour of the boat.
Sanchez-Guzman claims in the suit that during the tour, Singer took him to a private room, where he then brought him to the floor, slapped him in the face with his genitals, and forced him to perform oral sex. The suit claims that Singer continued with the act as Sanchez-Guzman choked and pleaded with him to stop.
Singer then allegedly forcibly performed oral sex on Sanchez-Guzman, and then raped him, according to the lawsuit filed by attorney Jeff Herman. The suit also claims that Singer allegedly told Sanchez-Guzman that he could help him break into the movie business in exchange for remaining silent about the incident.
Singer vehemently denies the allegations. In a statement to TMZ, a representative for the director drew attention to Herman, who represented another Singer accuser, Michael Egan, in a sexual assault lawsuit filed several years ago that was dismissed.
“The lawsuit was filed by the same lawyer who represented Michael Egan. Those claims were dismissed by Egan himself, and he later went to Federal prison for lying in a fraud case,” the rep said.
Singer — known for his work on the X-Men film series as well as Valkyrie and The Usual Suspects — was fired this week from his latest project, the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, with sources close to the production claiming the director had been feuding openly with the film’s star, Rami Malek.
But sources told tabloid Radar Online this week that 20th Century Fox executives questioned Singer about potential sexual misconduct allegations against him. According to reports, the director missed several days of production following the Thanksgiving holiday, with the film’s cinematographer stepping in to direct. Singer was fired from the film on Tuesday.
Singer was sued in 2014 for allegedly sexually abusing a minor, but the suit was ultimately dismissed.
The 52-year-old director is one of dozens of prominent figures in Hollywood to have been accused of sexual assault.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum