Queen’s Brian May Calls Anti-Vaxxers, Including Eric Clapton, ‘Fruitcakes’

“To go around saying vaccines are a plot to kill you, I’m sorry, that goes in the fruitcake jar for me,” the musician says

Brian May
Photo by Cole Bennetts/Getty Images

Brian May has just one word to describe people who are against the COVID vaccine: fruitcakes. And evidently, that includes his own “hero,” Eric Clapton.

Clapton has been loudly outspoken against the COVID vaccine and lockdowns since they began. May noted that while he definitely doesn’t share those beliefs — and a few other ideals Clapton champions — he still respects Clapton as a person.

“I love Eric Clapton, he’s my hero, but he has very different views from me in many ways,” May said in an interview with The Independent. “He’s a person who thinks it’s OK to shoot animals for fun, so we have our disagreements, but I would never stop respecting the man.”

May addressed anti-vaxxers in general, arguing that any drug or vaccine is going to have side effects.

“Anti-vax people, I’m sorry, I think they’re fruitcakes,” he said. “There’s plenty of evidence to show that vaccination helps. On the whole they’ve been very safe. There’s always going to be some side effect in any drug you take, but to go around saying vaccines are a plot to kill you, I’m sorry, that goes in the fruitcake jar for me.”

Reps for Clapton did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

In late July, Clapton announced that he would not play any shows where audience members were required to show proof of vaccination. In his statement, he noted that he didn’t want to play for a “discriminated audience.”

“Following the PM’s announcement on Monday the 19th of July 2021 I feel honor-bound to make an announcement of my own,” Clapton’s statement said. “I wish to say that I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present. Unless there is provision made for all people to attend, I reserve the right to cancel the show.”

In November of last year, with lockdowns and quarantines still very much in effect, Clapton teamed up with Van Morrison to create “Stand and Deliver,” an anti-lockdown song (the fourth of its kind from Van Morrison).

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