Brian May wants apology from Seven News
Queen guitarist has a run in with Seven cameraman just days before being the headline act at Fire Fight Australia concert.
- Published by David Knox
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Well this is awkward….
On Sunday Queen + Adam Lambert are the headline acts at Fire Fight Australia a benefit concert being televised by Seven and Foxtel. Queen have donated their full staging at ANZ Stadium for all acts to use.
But yesterday guitarist Brian May had an altercation with a Seven News cameraman at Brisbane airport after asking him to stop filming. When the cameraman put down his camera and began filming on his phone, May tried to push the phone away and shouted “You go away now!”
Seven News ran a story “Queen guitarist Brian May in altercation with 7NEWS cameraman at Brisbane airport” with 7News Exclusive watermarks across it.
May has taken to Instagram to detail his version of the incident, in which he is also asking for an apology.
“I regret getting angry, but angry I was, under what I regard as severe provocation, and to me the behaviour of the camera guy and the Channel 7 News Team is shabby and shameful. I’d like an apology from them all, but of course the chances of that are small,” he said.
Continued:
Continuing from previous post) I asked the cameraman at least two more times to put the camera down, and so did the kids. One of them said “I’ve waited half my life to meet Brian and I don’t want it to be spoilt by you”. The guy carried on filming, and then I told him firmly to put the camera away, or else this would turn into an ugly incident. Finally, he pointed the camera upwards, and it was fairly obvious it was still turned on, recording sound. Now it takes quite a lot to get me rattled, but I was beginning to boil. Everyone has a tipping point, I think ? I carried on talking to the kids, trying to ignore the invasive presence, but he then pulled out his iPhone and began to film us with that. That was the final straw for me. I headed towards him with the intention of temporarily separating him from his phone, and actually put a hand on it, before my security guy gently dissuaded me. And then I realised I had walked straight into a trap. The guy now had what he wanted. He could cook this up into a story in which I was portrayed as an attacker on an innocent victim of a newsman. He possessed the only footage of the incident, so he or his bosses could edit it any way they wanted, to make me look like I lost my rag for no reason. And that, predictably, is exactly what Channel 7 did. They could have run a story about how we’d come over preparing to do our bit for Fire Fight Australia next week, or about the upcoming massively sold-out show in Brisbane, or even about how we’d had a nice welcome from some fans at the airport. But no … they ran the ‘story’ with a smug introduction about Brian May “attacking” a cameraman, followed by a cunningly edited version of the footage he’d shot, in which I come across as an aggressor. I regret getting angry, but angry I was, under what I regard as severe provocation, and to me the behaviour of the camera guy and the Channel 7 News Team is shabby and shameful. I’d like an apology from them all, but of course the chances of that are small. I don’t know whether it was all a set-up from the beginning – maybe so – or whether he just deliberately acted like an arse to create a story, but either way I’ve had a struggle not to feel abused and unwelcome. I’m sensible enough to know the vast majority of folks here are not in any way like this. I spent the afternoon today with my cousins, naturalised Aussies for the last 45 years, and felt massive warmth. And lots of you figured out how shitty I must be feeling and reached out to me … I’m eternally grateful. I’ve always loved Queensland, and that will never change … had some of the best times of my life on the Barrier Reef, and cried buckets seeing the tragedy of the Koalas and Kangaroos in the recent fires.
Tonight I still feel bruised, but finally being able to write this is a kind of therapy. I had to make my side of the story known. Being disrespected so publicly takes a little while to get over.
But now it’s over. And tomorrow morning I will get up and do my preparations, with intent to give one of the best performances of my life, fuelled by new lessons learned, and a determination to make the best out of all this.
And a detrmination to give our wonderful fans in Brisbane the best night of their lives !!! See ya there !
Bri
P.S. I’m in touch with Cooper Simmons, the young lad you see in the photo. Both he and his parents have been very supportive, and highly critical of Channel 7’s behaviour. But I haven’t been able to trace the other fans … send me message if your read this, guys.
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- Tagged with Fire Fight Australia, Seven News
13 Responses
This is the sort of thing Paul Barry and the crew at Media Watch call out. Hope it gets a run this week
The intrusive Channel 7 reporters who chase people down the street asking idiotic questions make this story entirely believable. Thank you, Brian for calling out the behaviour.
Seven News – and Channel Seven in general – has as much integrity as Lionel Hutz.
Couldn’t believe while watching this on Sunrise news yesterday morning, Nat has the hide to say (even though she was actually reading what to say) that the cameraman was obliging Brian’s request to not film and put his phone away. It was embarrassing to hear when obviously you could see Brian asking him repeatedly to stop filming and he was just being a d…head. Another reason I hardly watch Sunrise anymore.
That is disgusting for Mr May just going about his business…but equally not on for the young people that were there…this cannot be right or legal….can it….So very wrong 7.
One more reason to not press 7 on the remote…
Unfortunately this is what passes for “news” in Australia now. Chase people down the street asking inane questions to try and provoke a response. They should be ashamed to call themselves “reporters” when they make themselves the story.
See over on another reporting outlet, Colin has had another pop at 7 over the ‘drama’ on MKR. It never rains but it pours. I hope Mr. Warburton was correct when he said he was relaunching after the olympics as it seems he has been handed a poison chalice.
Seven are copping it from everywhere this week. 3 days 3 different scandals. Funny how Seven used to lord it over everyone with their untouchable status when No 1. Now they are copping it from everyone.
Yeah, because Channel Nine have always been the moral authority and still are (insert sarcasm).
Ok guys back on topic thanks.
Because Seven was staffed by people poached from 9
That’s right Poida, the matching minds responsible for Nine’s ratings crown were able to take down their former employer and make Seven a ratings powerhouse. This is despite many pundits predicting that Seven would be number one for a year at most. How wrong they proved to be.