--- title: Bohemian Rhapsody: Bryan Singer Hits Back at Fox Over Firing description: Bryan Singer issued a statement saying his termination was the result of his return to the U.S. to tend to a sick parent. canonical: https://time.com/5049662/bryan-singer-bohemian-rhapsody-firing/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-05T15:17:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:27:28.918Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Bryan Singer Says Fox Fired Him for Taking Time to Care for a Sick Parent og:description: The director was fired from the Queen biopic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' og:url: https://time.com/5049662/bryan-singer-bohemian-rhapsody-firing/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64f5b7b62b479a02/6988f3b47cdbac35f9d5b1db/gettyimages-632866468.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Premiere Of FX's "Legion" - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bryan Singer Says Fox Fired Him for Taking Time to Care for a Sick Parent twitter:description: The director was fired from the Queen biopic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64f5b7b62b479a02/6988f3b47cdbac35f9d5b1db/gettyimages-632866468.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bryan Singer Says Fox Fired Him From _Bohemian Rhapsody_ for Taking Time to Care for a Sick Parent by [Derek Lawrence / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Derek Lawrence / Entertainment Weekly Dec 5, 2017 3:17 PM CUT  Bryan Singer attends the premiere of "Legion" in West Hollywood, Calif. on Jan. 26, 2017. Bryan Singer attends the premiere of "Legion" in West Hollywood, Calif. on Jan. 26, 2017.Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/ Getty Images by [Derek Lawrence / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Derek Lawrence / Entertainment Weekly Dec 5, 2017 3:17 PM CUT Hours after being [fired as the director of _Bohemian Rhapsody_](http://ew.com/movies/2017/12/04/bohemian-rhapsody-bryan-singer-fired/ "undefined"), Bryan Singer has issued a statement saying his termination was the result of his return to the U.S. to tend to a sick parent. On Friday, [production on the Queen biopic was temporarily halted](http://ew.com/movies/2017/12/01/bohemian-rhapsody-production-halted-bryan-singer/ "undefined") due to the filmmaker’s “unexpected unavailability.” Singer says he requested time off to be with his family during a “pressing health matter,” but Fox wouldn’t accommodate, he claims, and subsequently let him go. The _X-Men: Days of Future Past_ director went on to deny reports that on-set disputes with Rami Malek, who stars as Freddie Mercury, led to his dismissal. “Rumors that my unexpected departure from the film was sparked by a dispute I had with Rami Malek are not true,” he writes. “While, at times, we did have creative differences on set, Rami and I successfully put those differences behind us and continued to work on the film together until just prior to Thanksgiving.” Singer concludes, “I wanted nothing more than to be able to finish this project and help honor the legacy of Freddie Mercury and Queen, but Fox would not permit me to do so because I needed to temporarily put my health, and the health of my loved ones, first.” Upon news of the delay in production, a source had told EW that the reason was due to “a personal health matter concerning Bryan and his family” and that the director hoped to return to the film after the holidays. Read the full statement below. --- > “” --- _This_ [_article_](http://ew.com/movies/2017/12/04/bryan-singer-bohemian-rhapsody-firing-statement/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://ew.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5049662/bryan-singer-bohemian-rhapsody-firing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5049662/bryan-singer-bohemian-rhapsody-firing/"},"headline":"Bryan Singer Says Fox Fired Him From Bohemian Rhapsody for Taking Time to Care for a Sick Parent","datePublished":"2017-12-05T15:17:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:27:28.918Z","description":"Despite rumors of on set disputes","url":"https://time.com/5049662/bryan-singer-bohemian-rhapsody-firing/","keywords":["movies","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64f5b7b62b479a02/6988f3b47cdbac35f9d5b1db/gettyimages-632866468.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Derek Lawrence / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64f5b7b62b479a02/6988f3b47cdbac35f9d5b1db/gettyimages-632866468.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Premiere Of FX's \"Legion\" - Arrivals","caption":"Premiere Of FX's \"Legion\" - Arrivals","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/ Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5049662/bryan-singer-bohemian-rhapsody-firing/","name":"Bryan Singer Says Fox Fired Him From Bohemian Rhapsody for Taking Time to Care for a Sick Parent"}}]}] ```