Brian May has complained of “relentless pain” after he was taken to hospital following a gardening injury that tore muscles in his buttocks – and, while in recovery, made a sustained attack on Boris Johnson’s preparedness for coronavirus.
Writing on Instagram, the Queen guitarist said: “I managed to rip my gluteus maximus to shreds in a moment of overenthusiastic gardening. So suddenly I find myself in a hospital getting scanned to find out exactly how much I’ve actually damaged myself. Turns out I did a thorough job – this is a couple of days ago – and I won’t be able to walk for a while … or sleep, without a lot of assistance, because the pain is relentless.”
He said he would “go dark for a while” on social media, “getting some complete rest, at home. Please, please don’t send me sympathy – I just need some healing silence for a while.”
May is an enthusiastic Instagram user, and has documented his lockdown during coronavirus on the platform, including with frequent solo performances.
Despite his promise to leave the platform as he recovers, he has posted further content. In one post he addresses Boris Johnson: “I believe you’re a decent man … but some terrible mistakes have been made under your watch. This country went into this crisis with a National Health [Service] that had been severely crippled by successive policies of successive governments, your predecessors, underequipped, underfunded, and we sent those doctors and nurses into battle without proper protection, which I think is a scandal that we forever must be ashamed of.”
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He also complained about poor animal welfare, air pollution, consumption of fossil fuels, environmental damage, plans for the HS2 rail link and “gross inequality”, and called for a “radical rethink” of society. He called for a world “where the right values are prioritised … the welfare of people and animals, not money”. He said Queen were re-examining the way they tour.
Citing apparently thriving wildlife during coronavirus, he added: “So much of the world is benefitting from the fact that the hard, cruel, insensitive hand of man has been checked for a while.”
In another video, he said Johnson “didn’t have the balls to take us into lockdown quick enough … I believe new agendas can be drawn up and the government can do it – if it can’t do it, it has to step aside and let other people take over.”
Earlier, after Queen were forced to cancel a concert due to the outbreak, he spoke of dealing with feelings of “anger and blame” and “moments of wondering whether he will ever do that thing on stage again”. He told the NME that it “seemed to come from people eating animals … I think it’s time to re-examine our world in a way that doesn’t abuse other species.”
He has also been promoting the new female pop-rock trio Kings Daughters, whose music he has produced and performed guitar on.