Queen guitarist Brian May shares his thoughts on Brit Awards ditching the Male and Female categories in favor of the gender-neutral Artist of the Year category

“It’s a decision that was made without enough thought. A lot of things work great and can be left alone, ”said May The mirror at ITV’s Palooza event in London.

May’s words come after artist Sam Smith criticized the male / female categories for excluding non-binary artists. As a result, the Brit Awards organization removed four male / female categories, narrowing them down to two gender-neutral categories. The Male Solo Artist of the Year and Female Solo Artist of the Year categories have been combined into Artist of the Year, and the International Male Solo Artist of the Year and International Female Solo Artist of the Year have been combined. to become International Artist of the Year.

“I’m so sick of people trying to change things without thinking about the long term consequences,” May added. “Some of these things are an improvement, some are not.”

Addressing the culture of cancellation that has become so prevalent these days, May said there was an “atmosphere of fear everywhere because people are afraid to speak out how they really think.” He continued, “I think so many people are thinking, ‘Wait, that’s not quite right.’ But they dare not say anything. Eventually there will be some kind of explosion.

May also added that Queen’s frontman the late Freddie Mercury, who died in 1991, would have found today’s culture “difficult” and that the group would likely not have done well today if they did. had just started.

“Freddie was from Zanzibar, he wasn’t British, he wasn’t white as such – nobody cares, nobody ever discussed it,” May said. “He was a musician, he was our friend, he was our brother. We didn’t have to stop and think, “Oh, now should we work with him? Is it the right color? Does he have the right sexual inclination? None of that happened, and now I find it scary that you have to be so calculating about everything. “

He added: “We would have to have people of different colors and different genders and we would be forced to have a trans [person]. You know life doesn’t have to be like this. We can be separate and different.

Photo by Noam Galai / Getty Images for Global Citizen