Brian May has critiscised the BRIT Awards’ decision to scrap gender specific categories for next year’s awards, calling it “frightening”.

Earlier this week the annual awards show revealed that it would be streamlining the categories, with Artist of the Year and International Artist of the Year awards replacing the traditional Male and Female categories from previous years.

The Queen guitarist, 74, questioned the thinking behind it, telling The Mirror: “It’s a decision that has been made without enough thought. A lot of things work quite well and can be left alone.

“I get so sick of people trying to change things without thinking of the long-term consequences.

“Some of these things are an improvement, some of them are not,” he added.

The We Will Rock You hit-maker went on to say he feels that there is an “atmosphere of fear everywhere” because people are afraid of cancel culture.

“I think so many people are feeling, ‘Hang on, this isn’t quite right’. But they don’t dare say anything. Eventually there will be some kind of explosion.”

Referencing late Queen front man Freddie Mercury, he said he thought that the singer would have found the culture he speaks of “difficult”.

“For instance, Freddie came from Zanzibar, he wasn’t British, he wasn’t white as such – nobody cares, nobody ever, ever discussed it,” May elaborated.

“He was a musician, he was our friend, he was our brother. We didn’t have to stop and think: ‘Ooh, now, should we work with him? Is he the right colour? Is he the right sexual proclivity?’ None of that happened, and now I find it frightening that you have to be so calculating about everything.”

Queen have won four BRIT Awards in their time, however May said that he doesn’t believe that they would have got a look in now as they wouldn’t be considered diverse enough.

He explained: “We would be forced to have people of different colours and different sexes and we would have to have a trans [person]. You know life doesn’t have to be like that. We can be separate and different.”