Queen drummer Roger Taylor has reportedly said poor reviews of Bohemian Rhapsody last year were because the band is “too f**king popular and a lot of the media just hate that.”
The biopic, which earned Rami Malek an Oscar for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury, opened nearly a year ago and grossed nearly $1.2 billion at the box office.
“There were some decent reviews,” Taylor, 70, said in an interview published in the magazine of UK radio station Planet Rock, “but there were many that were kinda sneering and superficial. I thought, ‘You just don’t get it, do you? You weren’t moved, and whatever, but f**k you actually. F**k you all the way to the bank, actually.’
“But bad reviews usually mean that it’s going to be really successful. I think people know a lot more than film critics, and the word of mouth via social media is so much more powerful than review from a guy who probably watches 40 movies a week, and has probably lost the essence of the joy of a movie."
(Curiously, on the cover of the new issue of Planet Rock, Taylor is quoted saying “Some people hate the fact we’re so popular,” but a headline on the website quotes him as saying: “A lot of people hate that we're so f**king popular!”)