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Podcasts The Frame
Director Bryan Singer's on-set antics go back decades — so why does he keep getting hired?
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The Frame Tile
Dec 8, 2017
Listen • 6:22
Director Bryan Singer's on-set antics go back decades — so why does he keep getting hired?
The director was fired from the Freddie Mercury biopic, "Bohemian Rhapsody," after he went AWOL from the set. Singer says he was caring for a sick relative.
File: Director Bryan Singer attends the premiere of New Line Cinema's "Jack The Giant Slayer" at TCL Chinese Theatre on Feb. 26, 2013 in Hollywood.
Director Bryan Singer at the 2013 premiere of "Jack The Giant Slayer" in Hollywood.
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Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
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The director was fired from the Freddie Mercury biopic, "Bohemian Rhapsody," after he went AWOL from the set. Singer says he was caring for a sick relative.

This week saw three developments in the Bryan Singer story:

—Fox fired the "X-Men" franchise director from his job directing the Freddie Mercury biopic, "Bohemian Rhapsody," late last week, after he failed to return to set after Thanksgiving. Singer claims he had to take care of a sick relative. 

--On Thursday, a new lawsuit alleges that Singer in 2003 sexually assaulted a young man who was 17-years old when the alleged incident occurred. Singer released a statement denying the allegations and says he plans to fight them in court.

--And Singer's alma mater, USC, says the director requested that his name be removed from the school’s Division of Cinema & Media Studies until the charges are resolved.

This follows similar allegations in a lawsuit from a man named Michael Egan filed back in 2014, which were later discredited as false. Egan was sentenced to two years in prison for unrelated fraud charges.

But as Ira Madison III of The Daily Beast points out in a new article, Bryan Singer has a history of disappearing from sets, so why does he keep getting hired?

Click the play button at the top left to hear the interview!