Queen's Brian May apologises after appearing to defend Bryan Singer

Queen guitarist Brian May has apologised after he appeared to defend "Bohemian Rhapsody" director Bryan Singer over sexual assault allegations.

May defended Singer on the day The Atlantic published an expose detailing new allegations that the director had sexually assaulted underage boys.

The legendary musician initially hit out on Instagram, after a fan asked why he was still following Singer, who has denied the allegations.

"You need to look after your own business and stop telling me what to do. And you need to learn to respect the fact that a man or woman is innocent until proven guilty," wrote May on Instagram.

He issued an apology for the remark on Thursday, speaking directly to the woman he responded to, as well as "anyone else out there that I inadvertently offended".

"I am mortified to discover the effect my words produced... I'm so sorry that I responded to your post so snappily and inconsiderately. My response was a result of my perception that someone was telling me what to do. I now realise that I was completely wrong in thinking that. You were actually just trying to protect me, for which I thank you.

"I had no idea that saying someone was innocent until proven guilty could be interpreted as defending' Bryan Singer. I had absolutely no intention of doing that. I guess I must be naive, because also it had never occurred to me that following' a person on Instagram could be interpreted as approving of that person," he wrote.

In his apology, May confirmed that he has unfollowed Singer.

"I'm so sorry. This must have caused you a lot of upset. I wish I could take the comment back, but all I can do is apologize, and hope that my apology will begin to make amends," he added.