Sir Brian May takes thinly-veiled swipe at Nigel Farage amid BBC-Trump controversy as Queen star shares rare political input

Alex Davies

By Alex Davies


Published: 19/11/2025

- 09:10

Updated: 19/11/2025

- 09:33

The iconic rockstar doesn't appear best pleased with the Reform UK leader's support for President Trump

Sir Brian May has taken to social media to make a rare foray into the world of politics, given the latest developments on either side of the Atlantic.

The Queen guitarist took to Instagram earlier this week to repost a clip of Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey delivering his thoughts on the legal threats from President Donald Trump towards the BBC.


The US President has claimed he has an "obligation" to pursue legal action against the corporation following a misleading edit of a Panorama documentary featuring one of his speeches.

The scandal, which is said to have portrayed President Trump as inciting the Capitol Hill riots, led to the resignations of director-general Tim Davie and the CEO of News, Deborah Turness.

\u200bNigel Farage has issued the warning toi Rachel Reeves

Nigel Farage has been slammed by Sir Ed Davey and now Sir Brian May

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President Trump accused Mr Davie and the "top people in the BBC" of being "very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a presidential election" shortly after the reginations.

The Republican leader has since threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn, a threat that hasn't been opposed by Mr Farage, who has previously branded the corporation "institutionally biased for decades".

In the clip shared by Sir Brian, the Liberal Democrats leader is speaking on the BBC's flagship political programme, Laura Kuenssberg.

"I think the millions of TV licence fee payers will be shocked that Donald Trump is coming to pick their pockets," Sir Ed says in the clip.

Brian May

Brian May took to his Instagram to wade into politics

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"And what worries me above all is that Trump's America is coming to Britain if we're not careful.

"Trump has undermined the freedom of the American Press, he's taken money away from their public service broadcasters, he's threatened them, he's had lawsuits against media companies, he's trying to silence criticism of himself in America.

"And if we allow this to happen, it will be Trump's America becoming Farage's Britain," the Lib Dem leader added before turning his attention to Mr Farage directly.

He says: "And it's quite disgraceful that a leader of a British party, Nigel Farage, is egging on as he attacks one of our institutions, attacks our media and attacks the pockets of millions of licence fee payers."

Sir Brian shared the clip to his 3.6 million followers and made his thoughts on the saga clear in a rather rare political admission.

The rocker penned in the accompanying caption: "As most of you know, I'm not politically aligned to any party, and I don't normally repost comments from MPs.

"But I was struck by this comment from Edward J Davey, at what could be a pivotal moment in British history."

After being admittedly struck and seeming to endorse Sir Ed's swipes at President Trump and Mr Farage, Sir Brian was keen to see what his followers thought. "Tell me your thoughts, folks - do you perceive a hidden danger here? Or would you be happy to see the BBC disabled? Bri," he signed off.

Brian May

Brian May rarely voices his political stance

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His fans soon obliged, with quite the debate emerging in the comments of Sir Brian's political post.

"Whatever your system is over there in England, I loved it. My week in England felt like sanity compared to back home in the United States," one fan replied.

"This sounds like a pretty scary issue. How did this even happen?" a second questioned while a third made their thoughts clear: "I hope Trump totally grinds the BBC into oblivion."

A fourth sided with Sir Ed: "Totally agree with him. The BBC is being sabotaged from the inside by people put there by the previous government who always complained that it was biased against them."

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Trump has threatened to sue the BBC

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Meanwhile, a fifth suggested: "Fix the BBC. BUT do not let Trump throw the baby out with the bath water.

"Nobody hold Fox accountable for all their lies because they're Trump's fascist propaganda machine. Since he took office, alarm bells have been ringing in every free democracy in the world."

And a sixth sided with the President: "BBC are accountable for what they publish and the forum for this to be settled is the legal system.

"This is normally accepted, but because the claimant is Donald Trump there is an issue? Bias in the editing. Bias in the ongoing reporting." (sic)