It was both a good and bad week for Queen – the band.  The film Bohemian Rhapsody garnered five Oscar nominations.  But once again, issues surfaced regarding Bryan Singer – who ultimately directed about 99.9 percent of the flick.  The renewed interest was courtesy of a lengthy piece in The Atlantic which, according to Singer, “rehashed claims from bogus lawsuits filed by a disreputable cast of individuals willing to lie for money or attention.  And it is no surprise that, with Bohemian Rhapsody being an award-winning hit, this homophobic smear piece has been conveniently timed to take advantage of its success.”  Singer’s lawyer says that the auteur “categorically denies ever having sex with, or a preference for, underage men.”  What I found amusing is that the article in question was commissioned by Esquire…but they refused to run it after it had been fact-checked!

I always believe people are innocent until proven guilty – unless I don’t like them, in which case facts are completely irrelevant.  Apparently, facts aren’t important to lots of people out there.  Someone posted on Brian May’s Instagram account that he should unfollow Singer.  May 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.”  Users on social media came down on the Queen guitarist for defending an alleged sexual predator.   This led May to issue an apology.  He said, in part, “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 naïve, because also it has 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.”