Queen legend Brian May backs Donald Trump protest

Published on Saturday 29 January 2011 12:00

Rock hero Brian May has pledged his support for a group of anti-Donald Trump campaigners who want to use Queen's greatest hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, in a protest video.

The campaigners wrote to the musician, who now devotes much of his time to environmental and animal welfare issues, for permission to use the song, with suitably amended lyrics, in a video portraying the American tycoon who is building a 750 million golf resort on farmland and protected dunes on the Aberdeenshire coast.

They told May of the threat of compulsory purchase hanging over the homes of four families, including that of 86-year-old Molly Forbes, who live on the Menie Estate, ten miles north of Aberdeen.

The guitarist told them: "I can see there is a horrible example here of bullying the defenceless by a rich man who apparently can buy anything he wants. I deplore this kind of abuse and feel greatly for Molly and the others who are being ridden over by a very selfish man. And what the world certainly does not need is more golf courses. I am disgusted."

He added: "I sincerely hope you will be able to stop this nasty project in its tracks and I will do what I can to bring it a little more out in the open. I'm happy to secure you permission to try this yourself (make a Bohemian Rhapsody video]."

May expressed his sympathy after being contacted by Hazel Cameron, a Scottish poet who, with a group of fellow artists, had come up with the idea of using music to highlight the eviction threat. She said "I just happened to hear Bohemian Rhapsody on the radio as I was trying to come up with a new song to express my frustration about what had happened at Menie.

"I thought the words of Bohemian Rhapsody would be absolutely perfect if they were just slightly changed. And with the use of a Spitting Image-style character, you could have Donald Trump singing it, regretting the damage he has done."

The protesters plan to feature two of the leading figures in the furore in the video. One is Molly Forbes, who lives at "Paradise" on the Menie estate.

She raised judicial review proceedings against Trump International Golf Links and Aberdeenshire Council last year over the decisions that led to the massive resort being approved. The other is her son, Michael Forbes, 57, a salmon fisherman branded a "village idiot" by Trump, who sold a plot of his land to the anti-Trump protest group, Tripping Up Trump, in a bid to halt the development.

Cameron said: "Trump says he is doing this for his (Lewis-born] mother. But if he was that sentimental he would not try and throw an 86-year-old grandmother and her son out of their homes."