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Queen star Brian May has issued an apology to the entire Jewish community after comparing the government's badger cull in the UK.
Parliament has recently approved the killing of 5,000 badgers across the UK, in an attempt to prevent the spread of tuberculosis between the wild animals and regional farmers' cattle herds. May, a longtime supporter of badger rights described the cull as 'geoncide in the countryside', using a term often used in reference to the holocaust during the second world war.
Jewish leaders have expressed their anger at his comments, calling them 'terrible'. May has now posted a statement of apology on his website. See his full apology below.
Despite May's tireless campaigning, the UK government approved the badger cull
"My sincere apologies, of course, to anyone who felt upset by this. It would never be my intention in any way to slight the Jewish community," he wrote. "So many of my most loved and respected friends are Jews, and in any case, for people like us who have seen all corners of the world, racial slurs are just out of the question.
"I actually don't remember using the word 'genocide' last Friday, but it's possible, since I did probably 20 interviews that day, all off the cuff, and in the end you tend to lose track."
Below: Brian May campaigns for badger rights on the side of a busy main road
