"You put this down or else something ugly happens, do you understand?" May said. Photo / 7 News
"You put this down or else something ugly happens, do you understand?" May said. Photo / 7 News
Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May was filmed lashing out at a 7 News cameraman during an altercation outside Brisbane Airport.
May was filming mingling with excited fans when a cameraman started filming his interaction with the youngsters.
The 72-year-old eventually asked the cameraman to put his camera away, but after the 7 News employee refused, May lashed out, threatening "something ugly" might happen.
"You put this down or else something ugly happens, do you understand?" May said.
But the cameraman then pulled out his personal phone and started recording the Queen legend.
"Just leave us alone will you. Do you not understand?"
He then allegedly swiped at the cameraman's head.
"You go away now."
"You put this down or else something ugly happens, do you understand?" May said. Photo / 7 News
May then apologised to fans before taking off in his car.
Following the incident, May took to Instagram to put the record straight, thanking his fans for their support but revealing he is suffering from depression and the cameraman's actions sent him over the edge.
He said the cameraman was one of the rudest and most disrespectful members of the media he had ever come across.
"First of all THANKS to so many of you folks who managed to find a way to send me supportive messages while I've been quietly trying to work my way through the feelings generated by the incident that happened at Brisbane Airport, just moments after I landed in Australia.
"No – I'm not all right. But I will be. It certainly ruined my day, and if that's what you wanted, Channel 7, then you got it. There's a fine line between anger and depression, and I've been struggling with all of that since I got ambushed and harassed by a TV News team, fresh off the plane from New Zealand. Now, obviously I'm not a novice at this ... I've interacted with literally thousands of news reporters, photographers and cameramen over the last 50 years. I'm not exactly known for being aggressive, even in the face of provocation, but this guy caught me unawares – one of the rudest and most disrespectful video cameramen I've ever encountered. 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 ... This stuff still matters to me."
May went on to explain he was sharing a personal moment with fans when the cameraman tried to ruin the moment and became aggressive in his filming.
"So we stopped the car and I got out to sign their Queen material, and they kindly gave me gifts of typically Australian goodies. Lovely. Pressed up against the kids was a guy with a huge TV camera. I'd noticed him, obviously, but I had no idea who he was – whether he was part of the party of kids, or a third party. I just let him film for the few moments I was signing the albums. But these kids were clearly very moved by the meeting, and I felt they deserved to have a few moments NOT being filmed for public sharing.
"So, in the nicest possible way, I turned to the cameraman and asked if he'd stop filming, now he'd got his story, and give us some private moments. 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.
"I asked the cameraman at least two more times to put the camera down, and so did the kids. One of them said 'I've waited half my life to meet Brian and I don't want it to be spoilt by you'. The guy carried on filming, and then I told him firmly to put the camera away, or else this would turn into an ugly incident. Finally, he pointed the camera upwards, and it was fairly obvious it was still turned on, recording sound.
"Now it takes quite a lot to get me rattled, but I was beginning to boil. Everyone has a tipping point, I think? I carried on talking to the kids, trying to ignore the invasive presence, but he then pulled out his iPhone and began to film us with that. That was the final straw for me. I headed towards him with the intention of temporarily separating him from his phone, and actually put a hand on it, before my security guy gently dissuaded me. And then I realised I had walked straight into a trap. The guy now had what he wanted. He could cook this up into a story in which I was portrayed as an attacker on an innocent victim of a newsman.
"I regret getting angry, but angry I was, under what I regard as severe provocation, and to me the behaviour of the camera guy and the Channel 7 News Team is shabby and shameful. I'd like an apology from them all."
May is in Brisbane for Queen and Adam Lambert's Rhapsody Tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Queen play a show at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium on Thursday.
