The Queen guitarist lashes out. 

Brian May has accused Sacha Baron Cohen of being “an arse” and telling “untruths” after the Borat actor quit Queen’s long-planned Freddie Mercury biopic.

Cohen last month suggested that he’d joined the project hoping for a gritty portrayal of the singer, who died in 1991. “There are amazing stories about Freddie Mercury, the guy was wild, he was living an extreme lifestyle. There were stories of little people with plates of cocaine on their heads walking around parties.” The surviving members of Queen however wanted to make a film about “how the band carries on from strength to strength” after Mercury’s death. “Not one person is going to a movie where the lead character dies from AIDS and then you carry on to see how the band carries on,” Cohen claimed.

Responding in the Mail on Sunday today (April 10), May said: “Sacha became an arse. We had some nice times with Sacha kicking around ideas but he went off and told untruths about what happened. Why would he go away and say that we didn’t want to make a gritty film?

“We decided he wasn’t right for the role for very good reasons, which will become apparent if you watch what he’s done recently. It’s obvious that it wasn’t going to work, him playing Freddie. It wouldn’t suspend your disbelief.”

“We’re hoping Ben Whishaw will do it,” the guitarist added. “He’s fabulous – a real actor.”