Brian May of Queen gives a rude cameraman the business
Queen’s Brian May was hanging with some Australian fans when a camera person decided to intrude on the moment. This did not sit well with Brian.
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It seems to me that Brian was the one being rude. The news shooter was clearly a decent distance from the small group, doing his job in what appears to be a public area. I’m not sure what the privacy laws are in Australia, but here in Canada, you can have no expectation of privacy when you’re out in public. It’s not like the cameraman walked up and shoved his lens into Brian’s face, but Brian appears to grab at least the camera (and later the phone), and possibly the shooter.
As a follow-up, Brian’s Instagram paints a slightly different picture of the event, explaining the cameraman was asked before this video to stop shooting. It’s unfortunate that he didn’t comply, but again, Brian was in a public place, and the cameraman not respecting Brian’s wishes should not be justification for physical violence. As our moms used to tell us, two wrongs don’t make a right.
It might be true that the cameraman has no obligation to leave but they already had their story unless the intent was to spice it up. “rock star attacks!”. It certainly seems that it was edited to make it look more unprovoked than I think it was. I doubt any of those fans were there to be on TV and probably shocked that May would even stop to talk and sign. (Kudos to May for remembering what it’s like to be a fan.) As for the claim that the cameraman then used their phone for personal video, I have to call BS on that. There’s no way this cameraman wouldn’t be able to get a copy of anything he shot on his professional camera. This action seemed to be more like a dare. Ultimately, it’s not very professional by either party but keep in mind the paparazzi media hell these guys went through in the last few years of Freddie’s life. Under those circumstances, I think I’d have my guard up with unplanned media presence.