Brian May ignites public feud with Jeremy Clarkson over badger cull row: 'He doesn't know - it's laughable!'

Farm owner Clarkson has made no secret of his disdain for the animals, joking in his Amazon Prime Video series Clarkson's Farm that badgers should be "hit on the head with a hammer" to protect his cattle.

Meanwhile, for the past 11 years, the controversial badger cull has been in place in the UK and for much of that, Queen guitarist May has been vocal in his opposition to it.

The pair have had public differing opinions on the matter before - Clarkson called out May in a tweet way back in 2013 as he showed off the damage badgers had caused on his farm.

But now that Clarkson has been sharing his views on badgers to a wider audience in Amazon's record-breaking series, May has claimed The Grand Tour star is completely misinformed and has called on him to change his views.

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A post shared by Sir Brian May (@brianmayforreal)

May reckoned he could convince Clarkson to think differently and it was "just a shame he was on the wrong side".

Speaking to the Telegraph, May said: "I don't think it's Jeremy Clarkson's fault because he doesn't know, he's a newcomer to this situation.

"But he's been advised by someone who's telling him that bovine TB can be passed by a cow sniffing a badger's breath. It's laughable.

"But he's got four million viewers on TV, so unfortunately people are going to believe it."

Despite having differing views, May would still like to try and convince Clarkson to think differently.

"I would love to have a real heart to heart talk with Jeremy Clarkson. He has slagged me off, but I don't really get into that," he said.

While Clarkson has publicly derided the impact of badgers in Clarkson's Farm, May is hoping to change opinion in the upcoming BBC documentary, Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me.

"I don't blame people for being suspicious of me in the beginning, because, you know, I'm a guitarist," he said ahead of the doc's release. "You know I'm a rock star. What am I doing? Why would I have some contribution to make?

"I came in to save the badgers. I now realise that to save the badgers, you have to save everybody because it's a mess. It's a tragic human drama where people's hearts are broken."

If May were to try convince Clarkson to change his opinions, he may face an uphill battle, especially given the fact he hasn't held back before.

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Dear Brian May out of Queen. Look what some bastard badgers have done to my wall. pic.twitter.com/BHUkpwoceM

— Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) October 6, 2013

Discussing how he's portrayed his dealings with badgers in the Amazon series, he told the Daily Mail ahead of season two: "We thought, ‘What do we do?’ because if you want to make a popular show you have to say, ‘Oh, look at the little cuddly-wuddly badgers'. But I thought: no, it’s a farming show, and you’d lose your core audience, the farmers, if you went around, saying, ‘Look at these sweet little animals.'

"So, I actually called them b*****ds and showed people what they actually do. It’s truthful. These are not nice animals. Do not be fooled by Brian May.

"This is what badgers do. This is how much heartache they’re causing to people who’ve worked for generations to build up a farm that’s been wiped out by badgers."

Clarkson and Diddly Squat farm manager Kaleb Cooper also blasted the BBC's Countryfile following a November episode in which a viewer made a picnic bench for a badger.