When Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek won Best Actor at the 2019 Oscars, there was one critical name missing from his acceptance speech.
The 37-year-old actor thanked his family, his fellow cast, his girlfriend, Lucy Boynton and the members of Queen but he made no mention of Bryan Singer, the former director of Bohemian Rhapsody.
“My family, thank you for all of this. My dad didn’t see me do any of this, but I think he’s looking down at me right now,” he said, making no reference of Singer.
“To the Academy, to people who took a chance on me every step of the way. Graham King, Dennis O’Sullivan, everyone at Fox and New Regency, thank you so much. I may not have been the most obvious choice but I guess it worked out.
“Thank you Queen, thank you guys for allowing me to be the tiniest part of your phenomenal, extraordinary legacy, I am forever in your debt.”
Watch Rami Malek make his Oscar’s acceptance speech for Best Actor:
The 53-year-old director was fired from the Freddie Mercury biopic in December, 2017, two weeks after filming was set to be completed and replaced with Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher.
Prior to the 2019 Oscars, award commentators and film critics alike had speculated whether or not Malek would mention Singer in his speech since he was always the favourite to take out the ward.
It speaks volumes that Malek did not give Singer one moment of Oscars glory, despite the fact the director is still taking credit from the film’s success.
According to reports at the time from the Hollywood Reporter, he was “missing from set” after the cast’s Thanksgiving break and also repeatedly clashed with Malek.
While the publication reported tensions once escalated to the point where Singer “threw an object” at Malek, it was assumed they settled their differences before his termination.
More recently Singer was also accused of several counts of sexual misconduct involving teenage boys, the most recent of which date to January, 2019 in which a man named Victor Valdovinos told The Atantic that the X-Men and The Usual Suspects director molested him when he was an extra in his 1997 film Apt Pupil.
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“Every time he had a chance—three times—he would go back there … He was always touching my chest,” he said and stated Singer eventually “grabbed my genitals and started masturbating it.”
Despite this Malek has always claimed he was completely unaware of the sexual misconduct allegations thrown at Singer.
“I didn’t know much about Bryan. I think that the allegations and things were, believe it or not, honestly something I was not aware of, and that is what it is,” he told the Los Angeles Times shortly after the allegations were published in The Atlantic.
Despite the controversy surrounding its original director, Bohemian Rhapsody has gone from strength to strength this awards season, winning two Golden Globes, two BAFTAS and a monumental four Oscars.
And while Malek made no mention of Singer's name when he accepted the Golden Globe and Screen Actor Guild Award (SAG) for 'best actor' he made sure to pay homage to the man who inspired the film - Freddie Mercury.
"We made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life just unapologetically himself," he said.
"The fact that I'm celebrating him and his story tonight is proof we're longing for stories like this.
"I am the son of immigrants from Egypt. I am a first generation American and part of my story is being written right now and I could not be more grateful to each and every one of you and everyone who believed in me for this moment.
It is something I will treasure for the rest of my life.
Have you watched Bohemian Rhapsody? What did you think of the film? Tell us in a comment below.
Top Comments
i only watched it this past weekend and thought it was quite good, not what i expected or wanted, but still quite good. deserved its awards
Initially I didn't want to see the movie, because I read it had been very sanitized. But, I can understand why Brian May and Roger Taylor didn't want some sleazy biopic made about Freddy Mercury and the legacy of Queen. I did watch the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it. Rami Malek deserved his Oscar win and who in their right mind would give thanks to a director who is suspected of being a paedo, unless you wanted to commit Hollywood suicide?
I don't think being a little more honest and upfront about Freddie's life (rather than the Disney-job they did) would equate to it being a "sleazy biopic". Indeed, the disturbing thing about the film is the way it equates his sexuality to his "downfall".
Whilst the film was entertaining enough, I can't help but think Christian Bale was totally robbed. I cannot see how people though Malek's performance was better than Bale's.
Malek's performance wasn't better, but having been a Queen fan since going to one of their concerts in the 1970s, I wanted him to win. I suspect that if May and Taylor hadn't so tightly controlled the narrative, a non Disney movie would have been sleazy in the hope of attracting a wider audience.
Oh, TOTALLY jealous you got to see Queen! I bet they were amazing.
I'm just grateful that May and Taylor didn't get their original vision for the film to go ahead (ie Freddie dies in the middle, and the rest of the movie would have been about Queen's triumphant rise from the ashes). I reckon in the right hands, they could have dealt better with Freddie's complexity without making it cheap and sensational. Then again, in life he was a private man, so perhaps it's only fitting that a film about him really only scrapes the superficial surface of what made him great.
This one will really make you seethe. I also saw David Cassidy, when he was young and hot...........