Queen biopic accused of ignoring Mercury’s sexuality, AIDS

The upcoming Freddie Mercury biopic may leave out some significant details of the bisexual star’s life.

“Bohemian Rhapsody is a foot-stomping celebration of Queen, their music and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury.

“Mercury defied stereotypes and shattered convention to become one of the most beloved entertainers on the planet,” the official description from 20th Century Fox reads.

“Facing a life-threatening illness, Freddie leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. Queen cements a legacy that continues to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day,” it continued.

Fans, including producer Bryan Fuller, pointed out that the description skipped all mention of AIDS and instead referred only to Mercury’s “life-threatening illness.”

Fuller took to Twitter to accuse the trailer of “hetwashing.”

“Anyone else mildly annoyed (enough to tweet about it) the #BohemianRapsody trailer features gay/bi superstar Freddie Mercury flirting with and twirling with a woman but no indication of his love of men,” Fuller tweeted.

“Yes, it was a life-threatening illness, but more specifically it was AIDS. From having gay sex with men. Do better,” concluded Fuller.

When the biopic about Mercury was announced in 2010, it was scrutinized for erasing the musician’s bisexuality and the circumstances of his death as a victim of the AIDS crisis in 1991.

“If those aspects of his life are indeed overlooked in the final product, it will be entirely in line with popular media’s straight-washing of Mercury; despite being one of the most famous bisexual people of all time, his queerness is often flattened and reduced to mere eccentricity,” said John Paul Brammer.

The surviving members of Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor, were said to have creative control of the film.

Borat’s Sacha Baron Cohen was originally slated to play Mercury. Cohen left the project after reported clashes with the band because they didn’t necessarily want to focus on Mercury’s sexuality or his battle with AIDS.

Cohen later said that the band wanted a more “family friendly” approach that depicted Queen trying to persevere after Mercury’s death.

“It is still fascinating to me, after all these years, that Queen’s management spent decades trying to convince the world that Freddie was heterosexual while he was alive, but then conceded to his homosexuality after he had died,” Lesley-Ann Jones, author of two biographies on Mercury.

In addition to Malek, Bohemian Rapsody stars Mike Myers, Lucy Boynton and Joseph Mazzello.

The film is scheduled for release on November 2 of this year. Only then we will know if filmmakers are indeed guilty of “hetwashing” Mercury’s story.

Copyright The Gayly. June 17, 2018. 10:18 a.m. CST.