Queen's Brian May Rips Anti-Vaxxers: "They're Fruitcakes"

"To go around saying vaccines are a plot to kill you, I'm sorry, that goes in the fruitcake jar for me"

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Aug 9, 2021

Last month, Eric Clapton further solidified his anti-lockdown stance through his boycott of venues that choose to make COVID-19 tests or proof of immunity a requirement for entry. Now, Queen guitarist Brian May has weighed in, sharing that the beliefs of his fellow countryman and guitarist are perhaps a bit nutty for his taste.

Asked about anti-lockdown, vaccine-hesitant ravings of Clapton and the Stone Roses' Ian Brown in a recent interview with The Independent, May reportedly shook his head before saying of the former, "I love Eric Clapton, he's my hero, but he has very different views from me in many ways."

"He's a person who thinks it's okay to shoot animals for fun, so we have our disagreements," the noted animal welfare activist continued. "But I would never stop respecting the man."

Of anti-vaxxers who happen to not be influential instrumentalists, May offered, "I'm sorry, I think they're fruitcakes."

"There's plenty of evidence to show that vaccination helps. On the whole they've been very safe," he explained. "There's always going to be some side effect in any drug you take, but to go around saying vaccines are a plot to kill you, I'm sorry, that goes in the fruitcake jar for me."

Last week, May reissued his 1992 solo debut Back to the Light. In his interview with The Independent, he also speaks about becoming a "health and exercise addict" after suffering a heart attack during some "over-enthusiastic gardening" last year.

Of his reissued album, he shared, "I thought, 'This still speaks for my heart, I don't want to change a note, I would like it out there because I'd like people to know how I feel.' Especially at this time, when we're all looking to try to get back to the light in some way after this horrific time that all humans have been through in the last couple of years."

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