Queen guitarist Brian May was filmed losing his temper at a news cameraman yesterday in Brisbane.
Labeled as an "attack" by Channel 7 news anchor, the incident took place at Brisbane airport where May arrived for Queen + Adam Lambert's tour of the country, including the Fire Fight Australia benefit concert happening this 16th Feb.
The poor guitarist was filmed signing autographs for fans before stopping to tell off the Channel 7 News cameraman, "You gotta stop that because I ain't doing this." The paparazzi went on to follow May into the city and began filming once more as May met more fans. Once again, May politely said to the camera, "Excuse me, I said no."
However, the cameraman refused to stop and continued to film May, who then said said, "All right, is this going to get ugly? Because you put it down now or else something ugly happens. Do you understand? You stop now. I'm serious, I'm deadly serious." (It's almost like the cameraman was waiting for this to happen.)
Although the video released by Channel 7 does not specify it was put together in chronological order, it is yet unclear of how the situation unfolded.
Things got really heated up while May was taking a photo with a young fan. The cameraman, an alleged self-proclaimed Queen fan, whipped up his phone to keep filming May.
"Oh, the guy's doing it on his phone now. You're so clever, aren't you?" May said. "What a parasite you are. Just leave us alone, will you?" He then moved towards the cameraman to push his phone away. "You go away now!"
A third man is seen leading May away from the cameraman back into the car. May apologised to fans that it was "made ugly" by this guy. "So sorry."
Poor guy, he just wanted to meet his fans.
Watch the video below.
Brian May later wrote a three post long message on Instagram to explain what happened from his point of view.
He first thanked all those who showed support and love to him while he was trying to "work out the feelings generated by the incident".
He explained that it had ruined his day and explained that he has been struggling with anger and depression after the harassment from the news cameraman. May explained that he had never met anyone like him, who was "the rudest and most disrespectful video cameraman" he has ever met.
"As we drove out of the airport, I noticed a small group of young kids with Queen albums, waving a welcome. I find it hard to just drive by in a case like this. Yes, they could have been pesky e-bay hounds just looking to make a quick buck, but these guys looked like very genuine fans. This stuff still matters to me," he said. "So we stopped the car, and I got out to sign their Queen material, and they kindly gave me gifts of typically Australian goodies."
That's when May felt that these kids deserved to have a few moments not being filmed for the wider public, so he asked the cameraman to stop filming, nicely. "He refused. He kept on filming, and aggressively turned the camera close-up on my face. That, to me, felt like deliberate invasion of my space, and downright unfriendly. At that moment, everything changed," May explained.
One of the kids told the cameraman saying he waited half his life to meet Brian and he didn't want the cameraman to spoil the moment. However, the selfish cameraman decided to continue filming. May had the realisation that he walked into a trap when he tried to separate the cameraman from his phone. May was also unhappy that Channel 7 decided to run a story about Brian May "attacking" a cameraman rather than to talk up the Fire Fight benefit concert.
See below to read his side of the full story.
