Rami Malek: Bryan Singers Alleged Victims Deserve to Have Their Voice Heard

Rami Malekopened up about the sexual assault claims surrounding Bryan Singer, who directed him in the Oscar-nominated filmBohemian Rhapsody.

In a conversation at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival where he was honored for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, Malek was askedbyThe Hollywood Reporter about the recent allegationsagainst the filmmaker.

My heart goes out to anyone who has to live through anything like what Ive heard and what is out there, Malek told the audience. Its awful, its remarkable that this happens, I can appreciate so much what theyve been through and how difficult this must be for them. In the light of the #MeToo era that this somehow seems to exist after that, its a horrible thing.

Malek said he found talking about his own experiences with the accused director to be difficult because he wanted the focus to be on the film and Queen, but didnt want anyone to not feel like they can share their story.

Ive sat here and talked about how everyone deserves a voice and anyone who wants to talk about what happened with Bryan deserves to have their voice heard, Malek told the crowd. In my situation with Bryan, it was not pleasant, not at all. And thats about what I can say about it at this point.

Malek reiterated that Singer had been fired from the film. The director, however, had been removed from the production for asking to delay working on the film, and not for the abuse claims.

In January, Singerwas accused of having sex with four men who claim they were underage in an investigative feature on The Atlantic. Those werent the first claims to surface against Singer: He was accused of rape in December 2017 by Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, who was 17 at the time of the alleged incident.

Singer is still set to direct the upcoming filmRed Sonja.