X-Men Director Wants His Sex Abuse Case Dismissed

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Bryan Singer at Comic-Con in 2013.

Image: Kevin Winter

By Josh Dickey2014-05-22 19:11:17 -0400

On the eve of the launch of X-Men: Days of Future Past, the movie's director Bryan Singer seems to have caught a break in the sexual abuse lawsuit brought against him.

Singer has fresh evidence that Michael Egan — who claims that Singer and others sexually abused him as a teen — were even in the state the attacks were alleged to have taken place, Hawaii.

The acclaimed director, whose latest entry in the X-Men franchise opens worldwide Friday, filed a motion for dismissal Wednesday night in Hawaii federal court, citing lack of jurisdiction. He says Egan has no grounds to sue him there, citing his accuser’s 2003 deposition stating the two were never together in the state, where Egan now says he was abused as a teen in 1999.

SEE ALSO: Bryan Singer Accuser Names 3 More, Alleges Widespread 'Hollywood Sex Ring'

Gary Goddard, a Hollywood producer and owner of a company that designs theme-park attractions, is accused of the abuse alongside Singer. His attorney said Thursday that he, too, was filing a motion to dismiss the case in the Hawaii federal court.

“Gary Goddard's sworn declaration, supported by detailed evidence, confirms that he was never in Hawaii during the period of time that Michael Egan alleges he was abused,” the producer's lawyers said in a statement sent to Mashable. “And it is supported by Egan's own sworn deposition confirming that he was not in Hawaii either, and that no one other than those he accused in 2003 — which did not include Gary Goddard — had ever allegedly assaulted him.”

Last week another defendant, David Neuman, also filed a dismissal motion, citing Egan’s 2003 deposition in which he states that the he never had any physical contact with the former Disney TV president. Neuman also cited witness accounts that he was not in Hawaii in 1999.

Singer’s dismissal motion reiterates what he has asserted all along is Egan’s motive: money.

“The assertion of these antiquated claims was orchestrated to coincide with the worldwide release of a major motion picture directed by Defendant Bryan Singer … and accompanied by a parade of press conferences, interviews and other public preening b Plantiff and his counsel to maximize public attention on the eve of the picture’s release,” the filing reads.

“The timing of this action and inclusion of its detailed, sordid (and provably false) allegations are nothing more than tools being used to embarrass, harass, and pressure Singer and precipitate a shakedown of a perceived 'deep pocket'.”

Singer also says he was in pre-production on X-Men in Canada during the time Egan alleges he was abused in Hawaii.

The defendants each refer to Egan’s depositions in a 2000 sex abuse lawsuit against three separate executives, in which he says he never traveled outside the continental U.S. with those men; he also said at the time that they were the only ones who committed abuses. Those statements contradict assertions he made this year in the fresh round of allegations.

Neither Egan nor his lawyer, Jeff Herman, has reconciled that discrepancy.

The same federal judge in Hawaii is handling all four of Egan’s separate lawsuits against the aforementioned men and Garth Ancier, former head of the Fox entertainment group, who also has firmly denied the allegations.

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Topics: Bryan Singer, Entertainment, Film, Michael Egan, X-Men: Days of Future Past