Brian May, photo by David Brendan Hall

On Tuesday, Paul McCartney called for the shutdown of wet markets in China, due to their alleged connection to the spread of coronavirus. The Beatles legend also called the eating of bats, which are bought and sold at said markets, a “medieval” practice. Today, Queen guitarist Brian May has gone a step further by blaming the rise of COVID-19 on meat-eating culture as a whole.

“This pandemic seemed to come from people eating animals and it’s becoming more well known that eating animals is not the greatest thing for our health,” May explained to NME (via the Guardian). “We’ve seen more of the effects of how eating animals has brought us to our knees as a species, I think it’s time to re-examine our world in a way that doesn’t abuse other species.”



May’s comments come just a few months after his decision to become vegan. The 72-year-old rock veteran plans to be “a bit more preachy” about his newfound lifestyle change “because to me it is the way forward.”

While there are certainly health advantages to ditching a carnivorous diet, the origins of the novel virus are still unknown. One of the leading theories is that it was passed to humans through bats or pangolins (or a combination of both animals) via a wet market in Wuhan, China. But scientists and researchers don’t believe it’s “conclusive by any means.” For those blaming China for the spread of the so-called “Chinese virus”, studies recently revealed that the earliest wave of infections in epicenter New York actually came from Europe.

In addition to his vegan lifestyle, May has been spending his time in quarantine delivering the occasional live performance on social media and trying to keep his spirits up about the future. “I have to believe that some good things will come out of all this,” he said on Instagram. One of the good things to look forward to is Queen + Adam Lambert’s “Rhapsody Tour”, which was rescheduled to 2021.