Adam Lambert can match Freddie Mercury “and more,” Queen’s Brian May says

Queen guitarist Brian May had some kind words to say about vocalist Adam Lambert recently and even compared him to the late Freddie Mercury.

Lambert has toured with Queen since 2012 as the second vocalist to step in after Mercury died in 1991. The first was Free’s, Paul Rodgers.

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May recently spoke to GuitarWorld about Lambert’s capabilities and was more than complimentary.

“Adam can do all the stuff that Freddie did and more. It doesn’t matter what you throw at Adam — he can do it,” May said.

“He’s a born exhibitionist. He’s not Freddie, and he’s not pretending to be him, but he has a parallel set of equipment,” he continued. “We treat Adam exactly the same as we treated Freddie in almost every way.”

He also added that he is a “born rock star and frontman.”

Lambert recently broke our hearts by shutting down the idea of a Bohemian Rhapsody sequel.

“What would it be? A sequel? How would that work? It doesn’t make sense to me but I haven’t heard anything about it,” he said. “But I somehow doubt that. Somehow … I don’t know what they would make the movie about.”

Lambert’s upsetting comments come after a sequel has been rumored. Apparently, a source close to the “Queen family” says that a follow-up is being heavily considered. The source in question is Rudi Dolezal, a Queen video director who has approximately 30 Queen-related IMDb credits.

He says the potential sequel would start where Bohemian Rhapsody left off. Dolezal cites Queen manager Jim Beach’s intentions to pick up the story post-Live Aid performance.

“I’m sure he plans a sequel that starts with Live Aid,” Dolezal says of Beach, adding that the sequel is currently “being heavily discussed in the Queen family.”

So it sounds like a sequel might not be happening, but we’re not going to give up hope yet.

The Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody won big at the box office as well as this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. Rami Malek, who portrays Freddie Mercury in the film, is also up for an acting award at next week’s  MTV Movie & TV Awards .

According to Box Office Mojo, Bohemian Rhapsody has grossed over $875 million at the box office, making it the most successful music biopic of all time. While many believe Queen are making a ton of money from the success of the film, guitarist Brian May reveals the band “haven’t earned a penny” from the movie.

In a recent interview with BBC, May discusses the film and how it was not something that happened overnight.

“It was a long labor of love—about 12 years in development, I guess. We thought it would do well in the end and we felt good about it, but we didn’t realize it would do that well. It’s incredible around the world—it’s like a billion-dollar movie.”

When it comes to the reports that Queen are making a ton of money from the film, May is quick to shut down those assumptions.

“I had to laugh the other day, because there’s a thing in the paper saying that we were getting rich off this movie. If they only knew. We had an accountant in the other day, and we still haven’t earned a penny from it. How successful does a movie have to be before you make money? There’s so many people that people don’t realize will take pieces off the top.”

Despite not making any money from the film so far, May admits the band are happy to finally have the movie out there.

“I think Freddie comes out of it with his dignity, but without having been whitewashed in any way. It’s very real… I think people are astounded how close to Freddie Rami [Malek] got. It’s phenomenal the way he got inside Freddie’s body somehow—inside his skin.”

You can watch the full interview below.

More Queen news

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was honored at the MTV Movie and TV Awards and decided to use a Queen song to make his grand entrance.

The Rock was given the MTV Generation Award and came out the only way that seemed appropriate — to “We Will Rock You” by Queen.

Rock’s elaborate entrance featured choreography, gigantic signs and more. He also gave a passionate speech about his career, and you can see it all below.

Speaking of Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody was nominated for Best Musical Moment, but lost to A Star Is Born.

The MTV Movie and TV Awards kicked off tonight on MTV at 9 p.m. EST with host Zachary Levi. You can see the full list of winners here.

What do you think of what May said about Lambert? Sound off in the comments down below!

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