Brian May: “Queen don’t go to Glastonbury for political reasons”

The guitarist of Queen, Brian Maystated that his band will not be playing at Glastonbury Festival for “political” reasons. May in no way accepts the cutting of badgers by the founder of the festival, Michael Eavis.

The guitarist expressed his opposition already in 2019, when he explained that the band would never play at the festival for this reason, an opinion later reiterated in 2023. Now Brian May has once again dashed the hopes of the many fans who would like to see the Queen perform at Glastonbury in 2027.

In an interview with the British newspaper Daily Mail he declared: “I won’t go to Glastonbury next year because of the political ideas of those who run it. Unless things change, I won’t go. They like killing badgers and they think it’s for sport, that’s something I can’t support because we’ve been trying to save badgers for years and they keep getting killed for years, so that’s why we’re missing out on this opportunity.”

Eavis, who is also a dairy farmer, had previously called May a “danger to livestock” and criticized the guitarist’s opposition to the controversial badger cull, arguing that the trial is a fight against the impact that bovine tuberculosis can cause when cattle become infected.

Brian May is the co-founder of the animal welfare organization Save Mewhich fights against fox hunting and badger culling. In 2023, May further ruled out an appearance by the Queen at Worthy Farm, stating: “Michael Eavis has often insulted me and I don’t particularly like him. What bothers me most is that he is in favor of culling badgers, which I consider to be a tragedy and an unnecessary crime against wildlife.”