Bryan Singer issued a statement responding to a civil lawsuit filed against the X-Men: Days of Future Past director by the 31-year-old Michael Egan alleging sexual abuse when Egan was 15 (see "Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Targets 'X-Men' Director").  Singer calls the allegations “outrageous, vicious, and completely false,"characterizes the situation as "sick twisted shakedown," and explains why he pulled out of publicity for Days of Future Past.
 
Deadline reports that Singer released the following statement through his publicist: "The allegations against me are outrageous, vicious and completely false, I do not want these fictitious claims to divert ANY attention from X-Men: Days of Future Past.  This fantastic film is a labor of love and one of the greatest experiences of my career.  So, out of respect to all of the extraordinary contributions from the incredibly talented actors and crew involved, I’ve decided not to participate in the upcoming media events for the film.  However, I promise when this situation is over, the facts will show this to be the sick twisted shake down it is. I want to thank fans, friends and family for all their amazing and overwhelming support."
 
In the wake of the lawsuit, which came to light last week, Singer pulled out of his scheduled appearance at WonderCon (see "Singer Pulls Out of WonderCon"), and then dropped out of publicity events for X-Men: Days of Future Past, which is opening in North America on May 23rd (see "Singer Won’t Do Publicity for 'Days of Future Past'").