The drummer claims the band get hate for being “popular”
Queen drummer Roger Taylor has hit back at critics of the group’s 2018 Oscar-winning biopic Bohemian Rhapsody – and he didn’t mince his words.
In a new interview with Planet Rock, part of which was published online October 15, Taylor put the negative reaction towards the movie down to Queen’s immense popularity. “The trouble with us is, we’re too fucking popular, and a lot of the media just hate that,” he said.
Taylor added that although there were a handful of “decent” reviews, “there were many that were kinda sneering and superficial”. “I thought, ‘You just don’t get it, do you?’,” the drummer said. “You weren’t moved, and whatever, but fuck you actually. Fuck you all the way to the bank, actually.”
He then went on to point out that the negative coverage didn’t matter to the movie’s success: “Bad reviews usually mean that it’s going to be really successful. I think people know a lot more than film critics, and the word of mouth via social media is so much more powerful than review from a guy who probably watches 40 movies a week, and has probably lost the essence of the joy of a movie.”
Taylor wasn’t the only Queen member to respond to Bohemian Rhapsody haters. In May, lead guitarist Brian May called out the “deeply disturbing” behaviour of critics following Bohemian Rhapsody’s triumph at this year’s Oscars.
“If you look at the Press and Internet discussions that took place over the last few months, you can see that 90% of it is aimed at discrediting one or other, or all of the nominated films by innuendo and smears, rather than discussing their merits and admiring the skills that went into making them,” May said.
The Queen biopic starring Rami Malek as the late frontman Freddie Mercury made nearly $1 billion (£760 million) worldwide since its release last October. Speaking to NME earlier this month, Bohemian Rhapsody actress Lucy Boynton said that there shouldn’t be a sequel to the film.
