Rocker Brian May revealed that he will never tour in the U.S. again because it’s “too dangerous.”
The legendary Queen guitarist told the Daily Mail that while he loves the country, its volatility is making him think twice.
“America is a dangerous place at the moment, so you have to take that into account,” he said. “It’s very sad because I feel like Queen grew up in America, and we love it, but it’s not what it was. Everyone is thinking twice about going there at the moment.”
May’s latest political stance on the U.S. comes as President Donald Trump has been in office for nearly a year.
May, 78, performed in the U.S. with American Idol alum Adam Lambert on an extensive “Queen + Adam Lambert” tour, beginning in 2012.
May is known for his outspoken political activism and his work to advance animal welfare. He famously refuses to perform at English music festival Glastonbury because of political differences with its founder, Michael Eavis. May claimed that Eavis is “in favor of the badger cull,” or the licensed killing of badgers.
“I wouldn’t do Glastonbury next year because of the politics of the people who run it. Unless that changes, I won’t do it,” he told the Daily Mail.
“They like killing badgers, and they think it’s for sport,” he alleged, “and that’s something I cannot support because we’ve been trying to save these badgers for years, and they are still being killed for years, so that’s the reason we’re missing out on it.”
Eavis, in turn, called May a “danger to farming.”
The English rocker, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, co-founded Queen with Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor. He was appointed a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2005 and earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College London in 2008.
May told the Daily Mail that the Queen might perform again and that “there are a couple of things you haven’t heard,” alluding to new music.
“I don’t know when Queen will be back on stage, it’s an unknown we’ll take it day by day,” May said. “But never say never about not coming back, the rebuild of Queen Two is coming back, and there are a couple of things you haven’t heard.”
