Brian May rules Queen out of Glastonbury because they are “killing badgers”
Queen guitarist Brian May has ruled the band out of performing at Glastonbury Festival in the future.
May has spent the last decade campaigning against the culling of badgers by farmers in order to stop bovine tuberculosis from spreading to herds of cattle.
In 2013, Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis announced his support for badger culling, telling The Guardian, “As a dairy farmer I am not on the side of the badger.”
Additionally, in 2018, Eavis said about May, “He’s a danger to farming. He doesn’t care about the badgers – he doesn’t know anything about it at all.”
As a result of their differing views on the badger debate, May believes the possibility of Queen performing at Worthy Farm is a non-starter when the festival returns in 2027.
May told the Daily Mail in a new interview, “I wouldn’t do Glastonbury next year because of the politics of the people who run it, unless that changes, I won’t do it.”
He elaborated, “They like killing badgers, and they think it’s for sport and that’s something I cannot support because we’ve been trying to save these badgers for years, and they are still being killed for years, so that’s the reason we’re missing out on it.”
May added, “I don’t think the conversation of us doing has ever taken place because they know how I feel.”
Glastonbury is set to take a fallow year in 2026 before returning in 2027. Last year, Emily Eavis, who now organises the festival, confirmed that they were “nearly there” with the headliners for the next edition.
Meanwhile, in the same interview, May also provided an update on Queen’s status, sharing, “It was time to take a break and spend time with family, take stock. But never say never about not coming back, the rebuild of Queen Two is coming back, and there are a couple of things you haven’t heard.’
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