Legendary Queen guitarist Brian May has said he was "stitched up" by "press hacks" regarding his recent comments about gender and cancel culture.

May, 74, made the initial comments last week while speaking to members of the UK press at a recent ITV Palooza event. Per The Mirror, May was responding to the recent decision for the BRIT Awards to scrap its Best Male and Best Female categories in favor of gender-neutral 'Artist of the Year' and 'International Artist of the Year' awards.

The music icon said the change has been made "without enough thought" and that it was a "knee-jerk reaction" to "woke cancel culture".

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Speaking of his own experiences as part of Queen, May added: "For instance, Freddie came from Zanzibar, he wasn’t British, he wasn’t white as such – nobody cares, nobody ever, ever discussed it.

"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 color? Is he the right sexual proclivity?' None of that happened."

May went on to say: "I am sure if Queen started now we would be forced to have people of different colors and different sexes and a trans [person], but life doesn’t have to be like that. We can be separate and different."

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However, the guitarist has since taken to social media to explain that his words had been "twisted" and also share his true thoughts on inclusivity.

Sharing the message with his 2.9 million Instagram users, May wrote: "Yes - I was ambushed and completely stitched up by a journalist at the recent ITV event.

"And it’s led to a whole mess of press stories making it look like I’m unfriendly to trans people. Nothing could be further from the truth. My words were subtly twisted. I should have known better than to talk to those predatory Press hacks."

May then added:

"Sincere apologies to anyone who has been hurt by the stories. My heart is open as always to humans of all colours, all creeds, all sexes and sexualities, all shapes and sizes - and all creatures.

"We all deserve respect and an equal place in this world. And my grateful thanks to all of you who stepped up to defend me in the last couple of days. It means so much that you have faith in me."

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One person who was quick to show support for May's post was Adam Lambert, who has been frequently touring and performing with Queen over the last 10 years.

Commenting on May's post, Lambert left a series of love heart emojis.

Featured image credit: Sipa US / Alamy

Brian May says he was 'stitched up' over recent comments about gender and 'woke cancel culture'