Why I Don’t Give A S#&t Who Freddie Mercury Slept With

I took myself along to see the film, Bohemian Rhapsody the other day and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.

I don’t usually enjoy these types of films, they usually piss me right off. I get upset with people impersonating my favorite entertainers so I usually just avoid them.

But, I’d read that Brian May and Roger Taylor had approved so I thought I’d give it a go.

Loved it. Just loved it.

I don’t know how historically accurate it is, and I don’t care. I went along in the hope that I would learn something about a band that I’ve long enjoyed and spend a couple of hours listening to some good songs.

And I did. I learned about their creative process, how close they were, and are, and I came out of the movie with more respect for each of the band members than I’d had before.

I was also vastly relieved that they didn’t depict Freddie’s death. I absolutely did not want to watch him die. Particularly a horrible death like that one. I’d read Jim Hutton’s book not long after it came out, and that was enough for me. Horrible, horrible, disease.

That was four days ago, and I’ve still got Freddie’s voice singing in my head. Which is fine, believe me, I’ve had a lot worse singer’s stuck in my head before.

Why Do People Feel They Have the Right to Know Everything about Everyone?

Since then, I’ve been reading some of the media noise about the movie, Queen, and Freddie. God knows why because it’s only annoyed me.

The main complaint I see is that the movie was too whitewashed. That it should have shown more of Freddie’s parties, his boyfriends, his decadence.

These comments are usually followed up with the statement, “He’s a gay icon who was one of the first to die of AIDS, we should have seen more of that!”

Why?

(And incidentally, do we ever call someone a heterosexual icon? No, we do not.)

Who a rock star sleeps with, is none of our business. We don’t expect the neighbors to tell us about their sex lives, so why should anyone else?

In my opinion, (Warning! Warning! An opinion is about to be voiced) the movie made it clear that Freddie was no saint (just like every other human being that ever lived) but it focused on his talent and Queen’s creative process and career. With a little bit of Freddie’s inner turmoil thrown in.

I laughed, cried, and sung my way through this movie and I would happily do so again.

But, as much as I love Freddie, and that amazing voice, and as much as he has been a huge part of my growing up and my life, I do not own him. Not even a little bit of him. I own recordings of his music, but that’s it.

Okay Fiona, Enough Ranting Already, What’s Your Point?

My point is, that once you put yourself out there, rightly or wrongly, (and you know my opinion on that) the general public feel like they have a right to you. Or pieces of you at least.

If you’re lucky, that’s because they love what you do and you either inspire them, teach them or make them happy.

If you’re not so lucky, that’s because you’ve bugged them so badly they want to take a piece out of you.

So you’d better be damn careful with the words you use.

Please don’t read the above statement as “try not to offend anyone.”

You should absolutely offend people. That’s how conversations happen, laws get changed, and movements are created.

I mean you should be careful to use words that matter to you. Words that are important, words that help someone, that teach someone, that make the world a better place than it was before those words were sent free.

Words are important and when those words are written down, they become doubly so. They are then in the public arena and they become a thing. They’re a statement, a product, a description, or even a song.

If you’re running a business, your words are your advertisements. They’re your mission statement and they’ll be around long after you’re gone.

So you better make damn sure they describe you accurately.

Which Brings Me Back to Freddie (kind of)

I saw an interview with Rami Malek who played Freddie in Bohemian Rhapsody. He said that one of the reasons he enjoyed making the movie so much was that he got to use Freddie’s words.

Malek said, “You know, it’s quite fun ending every sentence with ‘darling’ and ‘dear’.”

Just reading that sentence makes me feel warm and safe.

How do you want your customers to feel after reading your words?