BAFTA Takes Bryan Singer’s Name Off ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Nomination
Bryan Singer, the director of several X-Men franchise movies. Image by Getty
By PJ Grisar February 7, 2019
“Bohemian Rhapsody” may win a BAFTA, but it looks like the film’s director, Bryan Singer, won’t.
The BBC reports that Singer’s nomination has been suspended from the Queen biopic’s bid for Outstanding British Film. The decision is due in part to allegations, including an expose from The Atlantic, of sexual misconduct and statutory rape.
Singer denies the allegations, calling them a “homophobic smear.” But it looks like he won’t find many allies in the LGBTQ community; “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a watershed film about a queer rockstar, was removed from the GLAAD Media Awards ballot last month following The Atlantic piece.
There’s a less damning reasons for Singer’s name being scrubbed from the BAFTAs: He was fired before principal photography wrapped and replaced by Dexter Fletcher. His termination was reportedly due to his habit of truancy on shooting days — a claim he has also denied.
In a statement on Wednesday BAFTA said it considered Singer’s alleged behavior “completely unacceptable and incompatible” with its values. While the British Academy acknowledged his denial it maintained the suspension would stay in place “until the outcome of the allegations has been resolved.”
The film’s star, Rami Malek, who is nominated for a leading actor BAFTA, acknowledged the pain felt by Singer’s alleged victims in an interview last week. The actor said working with the director was “not pleasant.”
PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture intern. He can be reached at [email protected].
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
