Published
Brian May has sought to clarify comments made earlier this week about gendered awards categories, claiming he was ‘ambushed and completely stitched up’ by a journalist.
During an ITV event May was reported to have condemned the BRIT Awards’ decision to remove ‘male’ and ‘female’ award categories as a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ to ‘woke cancel culture’, before going on to claim that ‘if Queen started now we would be forced to have people of different colours and different sexes and a trans [person]’.
The comments sparked swift backlash on social media, especially coming as they did on the 30th anniversary of Freddie Mercury’s death, with many pointing out that the Queen singer was himself gay and of Asian descent.
Now, May has spoken out once again, writing in an Instagram post that his words had been ‘twisted’ to make him appear ‘unfriendly to trans people’.
‘Nothing could be further from the truth. My words were subtly twisted. I should have known better than to talk to those predatory Press hacks,’ he said, before going on to apologise to anyone who had been hurt by his comments.
‘My heart is open as always to humans of all colours, all creeds, all sexes and sexualities, all shapes and sizes – and all creatures. We all deserve respect and an equal place in this world,’ he said.
May concluded his post by thanking fans who had defended him, many of whom took to the comments to express their support for the guitarist, with one person writing, ‘Don’t worry, Sir. Those who really know you aren’t fooled.’
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]