Brian May on social media bullying: “I’ll never feel the same about Instagram again”
3 February 2019, 17:56 | Updated: 3 February 2019, 18:01
The Queen legend has admitted that a recent incident on the social media network has “shocked and saddened” him.
Brian May has admitted that a recent controversy on Instagram has caused him to reconsider the effect of social media.
The Queen guitarist was condemned for appearing to support Bryan Singer, the director of the Bohemian Rhapsody film, who is facing allegations of sexual assault. After a fan advised May to unfollow Bryan Singer on Twitter, the Queen guitarist angrily responded: "You need to look after your own business and stop telling me what to do.”
May subsequently apologised, but in a new Instagram post, the musician admitted that “I don’t feel the urge to be very interactive right now” and that “I will never quite feel the same about Instagram again”.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Brian May
In an honest post, May thanked fans for their positive wishes but revealed that the incident had “shocked and saddened” him.
“It’s made me ask myself all over again why we all want to do this,” he continued. “It taught me a lesson which should have been obvious for a long time ago…
“It’s a terrible mistake to imagine that all your ‘followers’ are your friends. That feeling of trust has gone. It’s made me look again at those stories of kids being bullied to the point of suicide by social media posts from their ‘friends’, who have turned on them.
“I now know first hand what it’s like to feel you’re in a safe place, being relaxed and open and unguarded, and then, on a word, to be suddenly be ripped into.
“It’s OK - I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m a grown-up - I can deal with it. I’ll just behave a little differently from now on.”
He revealed: “I’m not going to do anything dramatic. I’m still here. But I will never quite feel the same about Instagram again.”
May's post comes in the same week that the children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield called on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat to regain control of “horrific” content.
The father of 14-year-old Molly Russell claimed that social media’s coverage of self-harm was partly to blame for his daughter’s suicide, prompting Longfield to write: “The recent tragic cases of young people who had accessed and drawn from sites that post deeply troubling content around suicide and self-harm, and who in the end took their own lives, should be a moment of reflection.”
READ MORE: Brian May apologises to fan on Instagram
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