Gay X-Men director ‘grabbed buttocks’ and treated me like ‘meat’, says alleged victim
The man accusing Bryan Singer, the director of the X-Men films, of raping him as a teenager has told reporters that he was treated “like a piece of meat”.
Mr Singer is accused of forcing Michael Egan III into sex during parties in California and Hawaii when Mr Egan, then a teenage actor, was 17.
“You were a piece of meat to these people and they’d pass you around between them,” Mr Egan said yesterday at a news conference at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.
“I can now stand in front of all of you today and say, I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse,” he added. “Some people don’t have a voice to say that. Some end up dead.”
The New York Times reports Mr Egan said his mother reported the alleged abuse to police back in the 1990s and even contacted the FBI.
“It fell on deaf ears. Then I buried it in me as deep as I could,” Mr Egan said.
He added that Mr Singer’s alleged sexual victimisation of him led him to experience a long battle with alcoholism, and that he began to seek therapy for the first time about a year ago.
“I went to trauma therapy and started to look at the issues and decided to look at the avenues to see if I had any legal rights,” Mr Egan said.
“We are very confident that Bryan will be vindicated,” he said.
“It is obvious that this case was filed in an attempt to get publicity at the time when Bryan’s new movie” – superhero sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past – “is about to open in a few weeks.”
Court documents claim that Mr Egan was introduced to Mr Singer via Marc Collins-Rector (the founder of Digital Entertainment Network) at a pool party.
The Independent reports Mr Collins-Rector, a registered sex offender, faced criminal justice in 2004 and pleaded guilty to eight charges of child enticement.
Mr Egan claims that he was naked, as per the rules of the house pool, when he was approached by Mr Collins-Rector and asked to hug the director.
Mr Singer then allegedly “grabbed his bare buttocks”. Mr Egan claims that the three men went to sit in a jacuzzi where he was ordered by Mr Collins-Rector to sit on his lap before being passed to the director. He alleges that Mr Singer gave him an alcoholic drink, despite knowing that he was underage, and promised him a part in a forthcoming film he was directing.
Mr Egan claims that Mr Singer told him he was “sexy” before masturbating and performing oral sex on him. He alleges that the director asked him to do the same to him, but that he refused.
The star allegedly then pushed Mr Egan’s head under the water, before demanding that he perform oral sex on him. The alleged victim claims that when he refused for a second time, it’s then alleged Mr Singer took him out of the pool and raped him. Mr Singer denies the allegations.
Mr Egan is seeking more than $75,000 (£44,500) for each of the four charges, listed as battery, assault, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Mr Singer, 48, one of the most successful gay directors in Hollywood, has directed three instalments in the lucrative X-Men franchise, beginning with the first X-Men film in 2000.
His other credits include The Usual Suspects, Superman Returns and last year’s Jack the Giant Slayer.
