UPDATE: Ian McKellen 'Deeply Regrets' His Comments About Sexual Abuse

UPDATE 3/04/2019: Sir Ian McKellen has apologized for the controversial comments he made about Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey, saying he "deeply regrets" blaming their multiple sexual assault accusations on the fact that they both spent so long in the closet.

"I suggested that if closeted people were instead open about their sexuality they wouldn't abuse others. That, of course, is wrong," he tweeted Saturday. "My intention was to encourage the LGBT audience I was addressing, to be proud and open about their sexuality."

"In doing so," he continued, "my point was clumsily expressed. I would never, ever trivialise or condone abuse of any kind. I deeply regret my careless remarks and apologise unreservedly for any distress I caused."

"When it comes to abuse by people in positions of power, the correct response is clear." McKellen explained that when someone claims to have been sexually abused, "the accused [should be] given an opportunity to clear their names" but that "if the actions are proven credible, the abuser's access to power should be removed."

ORIGINAL STORY BELOW: During an interview with the #QueerAF podcast, Sir Ian McKellen blamed a life in the closet for Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey's alleged sexual misconduct. Cue the gif of New York saying, "Not you, not you."

"Both of them were in the closet," McKellen said during a February 25 recording of the #QueerAF podcast. "Hence all their problems as people and their relationships with other people. If they had been able to be open about themselves and their desires, they wouldn't have started abusing people in the way they're being accused."

McKellen also claimed that it's "difficult to be absolutely black and white" about actors returning to public life after facing down sexual assault accusation in the wake of the #MeToo movement. "Whether they should be forced to stop working, that's debatable. I think that's rather up to the public," the actor said. "Do you want to see someone who's been accused of something that you don't approve of? Do you ever want to see them again? If the answer is no, you won't buy a ticket, you won't turn on the television. But there may be others for whom that's not a consideration."

McKellen worked with Singer on the first two X-Men movies and starred in Apt Pupil, the 1998 film Singer directed (during which he allegedly assaulted then 13-year-old Victor Valdovinos). McKellen also "interacted" with Spacey during the House of Cards star's tenure as artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London from 2003-2015.

Ian McKellen came out publicly in 1988, and seems to have forgotten that being closeted doesn't make you sexually assault people. This is somehow worse than saying he's waiting for someone to accuse me of something, and me wondering whether they're not telling the truth and me having forgotten." Yikes.

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