Following the announcement that the 2022 BRIT Awards would do away with gendered categories, Queen's Brian May has launched into another tirade about "woke" culture, adding that late frontman Freddie Mercury would've found it "difficult" and the band may not have succeeded in today's climate.
The BRITs were previously criticized by non-binary artist Sam Smith for their lack of inclusivity. Earlier this week, the awards announced that they would drop their four previous gendered categories — Male Solo Artist, Female Solo Artist, International Female Solo Artist and International Male Solo Artist — in favour of awarding an Artist of the Year and an International Artist of the Year, alongside four new fan-voted genre awards.
The BRITs were previously criticized by non-binary artist Sam Smith for their lack of inclusivity. Earlier this week, the awards announced that they would drop their four previous gendered categories — Male Solo Artist, Female Solo Artist, International Female Solo Artist and International Male Solo Artist — in favour of awarding an Artist of the Year and an International Artist of the Year, alongside four new fan-voted genre awards.
In an interview with The Mirror, rock legend May shared his thoughts on the ceremony's step towards inclusivity.
"It's a decision that has been made without enough thought," the guitarist said. "A lot of things work quite well and can be left alone. I get so sick of people trying to change things without thinking of the long-term consequences; some of these things are an improvement, some of them are not."
Other critics of the BRITs' decision have argued that women may now be overlooked as they had been previously at male-dominated awards.
Meanwhile, May shared his belief that revered bandmate Mercury would've struggled in today's culture:
For instance, Freddie came from Zanzibar. He wasn't British, he wasn't white as such — nobody cares, nobody ever, ever discussed it. He was a musician, he was our friend, he was our brother. We didn't have to stop and think: "Ooh now, should we work with him? Is he the right colour? Is he the right sexual proclivity?" None of that happened and now I find it frightening that you have to be so calculating about everything.
The musician even went so far as to say that he doesn't think Queen would've been considered diverse enough by modern standards.
"We would be forced to have people of different colours and different sexes and we would have to have a trans [person]," May added, which was pretty uncalled for.
Back in August, May tore into anti-vaxxers and last year, the guitarist claimed we could have avoided coronavirus if everyone was vegan — so who knows what he'll say next.
