Death In Entertainment

Episode 80 - Freddie Mercury Part 2: The Party's Over

May 03, 2023
Death In Entertainment
Episode 80 - Freddie Mercury Part 2: The Party's Over
Show Notes Transcript

Welcome to the final chapter of the Freddie Mercury saga! 

Throughout the 1970s, as Queen became the biggest band in the world, Mr. Mercury was having a good time and he didn’t want to stop at all. Then came the 1980s and a terrifying epidemic that would bring the party to a dead halt. Although under enormous pressure, Freddie wasn’t ready to bite the dust and he kept on fighting until the end. As they say in the business: the show must go on.


Support the show

Death in Entertainment is hosted by Kyle Ploof and Alejandro Dowling

New episodes every Wednesday!

https://linktr.ee/deathinentertainment

Previously on death in entertainment. It was heaven, the night club where Freddy was chatting with a handsome flight attendant from Quebec one night. They had previously been introduced in New York City by a mutual acquaintance. His name was gay Tom do guy. Although their conversation was brief, little did Freddie know that he was the man who would be dubbed patient zero of the AIDS epidemic. No fucking way. Wait, what? He was infected by patient zero. No way. That's fucking insane. We literally we know who patient zero was I had no idea. Well, I'll get to that. So now we're gonna backtrack a little bit, The Big Bang Theory. So that happens. And then let's go to 1908 Belgian Congo. Oh my god, we're going way back. So we're in the Belgian Congo 1908, a hunter from the Bantu tribe sets a trap and catches a chimpanzee. Unbeknownst to the man. The chimp is carrying a deadly virus known as SIV simian immune deficiency virus. As the hunter goes to spear it, the chimp bites his hand really chomping down, the virus immediately begins to replicate aggressively inside the hunter, because they're virtually identical chimps and humans, as far as the systems Yeah. So he brings back multiple carcasses, including this infected chimp. And he brings it to a marketplace nearby sells the carcasses to be cooked or smoked. And then he goes and buys a couple of prostitutes. Oh, Mike. And so at this point, they all go to a queen concert. The fatal cycle has begun. According to The New York Times, the virus spread to Haiti around 1967, most likely by one of the 1000s of Haitian civil servants that were recruited by the United Nations to work in the former Belgian Congo after colonial rule collapsed. So the UN did it. So this sounds like a conspiracy theory. international conspiracy Yeah, brought a private Blood Center opened up in 1971 in Haiti, and they exported tons of contaminated plasma to the United States, namely New York City. Yeah. And by the way, Haiti was also a popular sex tourism destination for gay man. By 1976, the virus had spread to San Francisco. And then in 1981, the first cases of AIDS were reported. Scientists at the National Centers for Disease Control and Atlanta today released the results of a study, which shows that the lifestyle of some male homosexuals has triggered an epidemic of a rare form of cancer. The epidemic is of AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency disease, AIDS is caused by a virus. In a healthy individual, there are twice as many T helper cells as T suppressor cells. In people with AIDS, this ratio was reversed. It was called gay cancer. Notice then grid then aids dread was the short for gay Related Immune Deficiency. A doctor came up with that. Wow, that's what's shocking about this time period. Yeah, they didn't know what to call it. And it was so disrespectful. You can just tell by the way they're naming the disease. They did not give a shit related. Yeah, immune efficient, which means dread only happening to gay people funny when they think they put it in an acronym. It sounds professional. Yeah. Like we're off the grid. Yeah, we're good. And then when they finally land on a name, they decide to screw over this diet pill company that was called AIDS. Why? Really? Yeah, there was a thing called AIDS. pills that help you lose weight. Yeah, it was probably crack. So they don't know if it's been spread through sex, or they thought poppers for a while because it was only happening to gay men. Yeah. poppers were big for like orgies and stuff. Yeah. If you've seen Behind the Candelabra, you'll know what I'm talking about as well as the JFK when Tommy Lee Jones character. I don't know if you remember that. I know that you mentioned that was why Yeah, I do remember a wild scene with Tommy Lee J. Joe Pesci and white wigs and Kevin Bacon throw him in the mix. You gotta you gotta watch this. There's a scene of a movie with Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee, Tommy Lee Jones and Joe Pat and Joe Pesci and powdered wigs powdered wigs where they're doing popper as their their sock doing and they're fucking what? Yeah, and it's a movie about the JFK assassination. Yes. Wait. Everything you love Kyle, you will add that to the DI pod watch list. Yeah, please. So there was a study in 1984 Where there was studying the clusters of gay men and where the virus was prevalent. And they trace the sexual contacts of 40 gay men who was showing signs of the disease, including Kaposi sarcoma, that was one of the first signs you had AIDS was a skin cancer and you'd have like blotches of red dots usually started. But yeah, lesions on your face everywhere. Yeah, like Philadelphia, eight of the men had had sex with a then on identified flight attendant with a funny accent. He was labeled case 057 as a number 57. And then the letter O seven. The letter O was a Snipes, which meant out of California, because that's where the case that's where the study was. So a man this is a case outside of California, but then some bureaucratic error where someone mistook it to mean zero. And so that's where the patient zero myth started. The man's name Gaytan Duga. He had been cooperative with investigators since first showing symptoms of what he thought was skin cancer in 1980. He even gave them 72 names and answered every question they had do got two names of people they had sex with. Yeah, Jesus guy's name and net. Yes, guys. Yeah, round because he's trying to be helpful. But unfortunately, he also wasn't helpful because he continued to have sex and be promiscuous, because he believed that he had cancer. And according to him, You can't catch cancer. Yeah. Well, no one knew like it was going to become the disease that became because it's like, the freakiest thing out there right now. And with the lens of gay liberation, what was the number one thing you had to do in order to be a free gay man at that time, have as much sex as possible? So to take that away from these men was a huge thing, because they had worked so hard to get to that point. Yeah. So gay time died in March 1994. The community started to panic, as in the gay community, nobody was taking them seriously. There was a manual that was released in 1983, called how to have sex in an epidemic, which suggested using condoms, among other things. And then the Gay Men's Health Crisis was formed. The Reagan administration didn't give a shit. They turned their back on the gay community. There's a famous clip of White House Press Secretary Larry speaks, laughing about AIDS when he's asked about it in 1982. Yeah, and making very homophobic jokes about it is Prescott Reagan didn't care for much either. She didn't they all turn their backs. No. So it's basically a culture war. Yeah. Yeah. And that's when I think the cruelty of the Republican Party really started to show cruel. I mean, they were just leaving these men to die. Yeah. And it was happening faster was a pandemic. Yeah. And they just let it spread. They didn't give enough research. They didn't give enough money until it was too late. And so that brings us to summer 1982. Queen play two sold out shows in Madison Square Garden as part of their hot space tour, which was a disco themed album that flopped. Yeah, during breaks, Freddie hit the New York City clubs as hard as ever. The North American leg of the tour ended in September, the band briefly went back to England before flying back to New York to be the musical guests on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Chevy Chase real oh my god, Freddie appeared under the weather when he performed under pressure and crazy little thing called love. I'm under the weather. So Freddie had just recovered from what he deemed as the worst flu ever. He also had a white lesion on his tongue that he had a doctor look at while he was still in New York City. Later diagnosis hairy leukoplakia. Unfortunately, these match the early symptoms of HIV, Freddie was hoping it could have been something else because there was no Kaposi sarcoma, yet. He had most likely contracted the virus that summer. Although it's not known how Freddie got it. It has been confirmed that he did have a one night stand with a man named John Murphy who previously had sex with Gaytan Duga Oh, he's part of that network. Unfortunately, Queens SNL appearance would be their last performance in the US. Wow. According to Freddie's assistant, Peter Freeston. Freddie's symptoms got worse and worse blackouts, tremors, swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, night sweats, ma With officers and throat infections, he took care of himself as best he could not like going out late at night doing all the coke and any of those parties right now while he's getting back on track. He recovers somewhat, but he does continue to party. It's hard to accept. He doesn't want to believe that he might have it. And again, not all of them were convinced that it spread through sex at that time. Yeah, Queens next album was the works in 1984. It was considered a return to form after heartspace This is the one with radio Gaga, which was a huge hit. Oh, we need and unfortunately gave us Lady Gaga because she named herself after that song. Oh, the monsters and after that you know what they did? Live Aid in 1985 Bob Geldof you remember him? Oh, God can't forget the Geldof. He was organizing a large benefit concert to raise money for Famine Relief in Ethiopia. Friday didn't return Geldof's calls at first because it was getting dicked down. By Michael Hutchins, because queen had been snubbed for the charity song Do They Know It's Christmas? Oh, it's believed they were left out because the band had played multiple dates in Sun City, South Africa. And this was in the apartheid era. You're not supposed to play that because of no, remember that little CV song? I ain't gonna play subsidy. No, no, no, they claimed they weren't political, and that's why they played it for the people but they have since regretted that I bet. But a year on it appeared that it was all water under the bridge. After getting tired of waiting for a response from Freddie Geldof called Queen's manager Jim beech and said tell the elders it's going to be the biggest thing that ever happened. Watch Bob Geldof Yes, it's a queen's man. It's a wonder as your wife was did Michael Hutchins with that he was such a sympathetic character. Yeah, Queen was officially booked. They negotiated a primetime spots

what it takes is around 6:

30pm talking dirty and rehearse for days beforehand. On Saturday, July 13 1985, Queen took the stage to a live audience of 72,000 and we're broadcast to probably a billion worldwide with a tight energetic 20 minute set full of hits. Queen and particularly Freddy stole the show. And he was wearing a white vest and Wrangler Jeans like a boss. Yeah, boss like Rick Ross. It was between him and Bonner who was the more standout of that yeah and Queen wagon okay, it's often regarded as one of the best everybody stage performances of all time. 100% Shall we see? Way better voice and bond. And way better than 1,000,000% Yoko Ono she tried to copy of data all right, dad. Oh, hey Daniel detto Seto. So Live Aid put Queen back on top. The only problem was Freddie's future was uncertain at best. Three days after Live Aid. Another notable figure was about to make headlines that would eventually shatter the wall of silence regarding HIV and AIDS actor Rock Hudson joined his former co star and lifelong friend Doris Day for a press conference to launch her new show Rock Hudson looked gaunt and much older than his 59 years. The Press speculated he had cancer. Later that month, he collapsed at the airport in Paris, France. They later told the press that he collapsed to his hotel room at the Ritz because he thought it sounded better. Oh my god. So Rock Hudson was forced to admit he had AIDS because he was admitted to a Paris hospital and they wouldn't treat him unless he did. I never knew this because I know Rock Hudson and I know if people are looking at this picture that we have up right now. You're probably just as confused as I am. Because I know Rock Hudson as this picture. Yeah. And that was the same guy. That's unbelievable. It's shocking completely. You can't even tell the same person and he was good friends with Ronald and Nancy Reagan. They ignored his desperate request for help shut, pretended they didn't know. Yeah, and rock went on to die on October 2, that same year 1985 My God and the world That was absolutely stunned. Did Ryan go to the funeral? I want no. Nothing to do with. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow, they dropped like a hot potato. And there's a picture of them together just the year before. him with the Reagan's. Oh, well never heard of him. What's aids? What day is it? Oh, if rock hadn't collapsed while going because he was going there to receive secret treatments because he knew he had AIDS. Yeah. If he hadn't collapsed, he might have died eventually. And they would have just said cancer and nobody would have thought anything of it. Yeah. And in fact, a lot of people didn't even know he was gay that it wasn't until his AIDS diagnosis that he told the world the truth about himself. Yeah. Oh, well, I didn't know he had AIDS or that he was gay. Oh, I wouldn't talk to him. I'd help you every you know, I don't think it's contagious. Get this A to half of me. down they say. By the end of the year, Freddie grew tired of Munich and the whole damn scene. He broke up with his current lovers, Vinny kuch, bugga and Barbara Valentin and abandoned the city. So the scene got lame there. So he's like, I've had enough of this and he got AIDS. That'll do it to Mr. Gorbachev. I just went Kennedy on that one. Barbara Valentin recalled an incident where Freddie cut himself and when she went to help them he screamed, no, don't touch me. But it's smart. Yeah, I think people were still afraid of, you know, everything going on. No, no. People are afraid of hugging and kissing. Nevermind. Yeah, you could actually get it from blood or being in the same room as someone who needs at this time. Yeah. And they were lepers. They were treated as such, then yeah, it's scary. You know, if you were in that situation, CDC, like Yeah, it's sad knowing that we were all like, alive in the 70s and 80s. And now we know exactly how to treat something like that or how to not get it. Yeah. And literally in our lifetime, they had no idea Well, It's sickening that it was gay liberation followed by the plague Yeah, because that's such a cruel the I think though the Reagan people and all their you know, their religious that's when the religious right really started taking over the Republican Party. And that was their, their outlook on life is they are paying for their bad behavior like that. They like it's suffering because of things that they did. Exactly that. It's like it's your penance. All Jerry Falwell said meanwhile, oh my God, he's fucking Yeah, remember, he used to say, yeah, see that a hurricane that happened yesterday. It's because of gay people. You know, I hope his death was painful, right, fucking Opie's rotting in hell. And meanwhile, those guys like those televangelists and stuff, there's like bobbin you know, Tammy, Faye Baker? They're stealing millions of dollars from people who? Who just give them money because they think they're doing God's work. Yeah, to disaster. As usual, Freddy threw himself into his work afterwards. So So reception for his first solo effort, Mr. Bad Guy, Freddy focused on Queens next album, titled a kind of magic. They capitalized off the success of Live Aid with the anthem, one vision. It also had a bunch of songs from the movie Highlander, which they did the soundtrack for. No, I just told them. They did the whole soundtrack. Yeah. And then I learned Yeah, and then kind of magic doubled as the Highlander soundtrack and also a new Queen album. Wow, I should check that out. So two badass movies that had super gay soundtracks, Highlander. Okay, and Batman the original? Yeah, no. Bad dance. Are you kidding me? That's one of the straightest songs ever now. Vicki Bell, Vicki Bell. Thank you, Ben. That's one of my favorite songs. Gonna be like, Freddie. Thank you. What are you gonna do about it? The bad stuff and the bad dance? I'm gonna do about it. That's my number one running song Bad. It gets me going. No, no joke is one of my favorite shows. I'm amazing. 100% serious. As serious as the AIDS crisis. Wow. And he's a Packers fan. Yeah, packing sludge packers. Oh, yeah. That's the first time I've heard that one. Kyle's been swinging and the attempt has been made. While not so hot in the US anymore. Queen did sell a lot of albums in the UK. I got a little tripped up. They're still darlings in the UK. Yeah. And the US kind of gave up on them after the game album with another one bites the dust. I don't know why they just fell out of favor. Yeah, so after the release of a kind of magic in summer of 1986, Queen embarked on a 26 city European tour, a highlight being two sold out shows at Wembley Stadium. And guess who opened for them due to in excess? Oh, clashed with the queen fans. I guess they were throwing things at them. Really? Wow. It makes sense. Maybe they heard about the Geldof affair. Yeah, maybe. While I think there was a big people were turning against NSS and maybe it was because of that actually. What year was this? 86 is a little early a little early. Okay. They were a young band. That's why they opening Yeah, wait. Sure. Wow. And they just did not respect them. That's, that's scary. To have 100,000 People just be like, fuck you. My happens all the time. Yeah. When me and my family went to see Joan Baez. Back in the day. There was this really hip cool opener. It was like this indie girl. Yeah. And the old fogies in the audience. Were like, we want Joe now. Oh, my God, who the fuck is Joan Baez? Okay, let's just move on. We don't have time. I don't have time to teach Kyle. History. Nobody Got Time for That. Freddie complained to his bandmates that he was getting tired of touring and couldn't do a much longer. And they don't know. By the way, at this point. They don't know the age. No, not at all. Not many people know, because he's keeping it secret. He doesn't want the attention and he's scared himself. And he still hasn't confirmed it. Okay. Oh, it's much maybe they're still working on the test like the Oh, absolutely. Brother. COVID test took forever. Yeah, it did take forever. The final show on the tour took place at Knebworth Park on August 9 1986. In front of 120,000 fans did a birth. We're getting closer to Kyle's birth. I was supposed to be born on the eighth. Yeah. Okay. The day after. So Kyle is a fetus during or a baby? Big, baby? Yeah, pretty much a baby sitting in the belly at this point and fetus. Yeah. Ready living birth defect. That's after he's ready to close the show wearing a queen of England crown and royal robe who was sneakers during their signature instrumental God Save the Queen. It would be his final concert ever. He's actually very, you know, he's very into his country. He's very into English and stuff. And he's like, you know, one of those first generation immigrants who just loves the idea of being an English person. He loves the grandiosity of it. That's right, because he's from Tanzania. Or pretend Zanzibar Yeah. But you know he's he's adopted his his new home and just like wants it wants to be big and he was hiding his history. Remember, he wasn't real forthcoming that he was born in Zanzibar change his name. Zanzibar I didn't even know was a country. I just thought it was a restaurant that Jack Black shout it out on fucker gently. Of all the places we were going. I'm not gonna make it but I'm gonna order it from Zanzibar. So while we're going through the history, pile is still a fetus. Can we in the history? Happily, yeah. Disappear. Where's the vaccine? Doctor comes in. No, no. Does he have age? No, no, it's worse. Yes. Where's Kyle? He's got a basket of bad references. He's gonna talk about in the future. Can we get rid of it? That's against the law. I guess. prefer some boredom I guess. So later, in 1986, after a trip to Japan, Freddy came back home to see the headline in the paper News of the World which remember that not only that rag, yeah. And they had an album called News of the World. Yep. That's named after that. Yeah. The Murdoch's by the way pieces of shit. Other words, the way they treated Friday at this time. Oh, really. So he comes home to see the headline, Queen star Freddie in AIDS shock. And then he responded to them. Do I look as though I'm dying. But in reality he was he's in full blown denial. Freddie had taken one test for HIV AIDS. Yeah. For HIV in 1985. When they first became available, you would just ask him about that. Yeah, the result came Back positive that he had been exposed to the virus but doctors informed him the results were not 100% reliable, giving him false hope. Freddy allegedly took another 10 tests the following year, with similar outcomes waiting in vain for a result that came back negative. In April 1987. Freddy finally got the diagnosis that he had been dreading. When he had a biopsy performed on a lesion on his shoulder. His doctor confirmed it was car Posey sarcoma, the skin cancer that usually occurs three to seven years after initial infection, Jesus, another doctor confirmed the results and informed him that the HIV had progressed into full blown AIDS, meaning his body was no longer able to fight off infections by itself. So it's just a matter of time now it said, Yeah, time game. He doesn't know if he has one year, three years. Those last days are really tough with that, I'm sure. Yeah. Because like in the 90s people would use HIV and AIDS like interchangeably. They're not. Yeah, HIV, you can get in. It's horrible. But now you could survive on that Magic Johnson years and years. So livable now? Yeah, absolutely. Have a complete normal, healthy life with HIV. Thanks. So the current medications, yes. But if you got HIV in like the 80s or 90s, people were like, Oh, you have AIDS. And it's like, no, AIDS is like the last stop on that train, which is yeah, it's absolutely deadly. You can't stop aids. Yeah. So you have to stop HIV from becoming aids. It's yeah. And it takes a while to progress into AIDS. Yes, sometimes seven years. Exactly. So it's like you have so much time after finding out that you have HIV, to stop it from becoming that. And that's the tragedy of all this. So I wonder when he actually did contract the HIV, they think it's summer 1982 82 when he was visiting New York City multiple times, because that's where he really let loose, man. And then gay time do God got it around 1974. Wow. So it's associated with the 80s. But a lot of it started in the 70s. Yeah, and they didn't know building up for a while. Yeah. So as the Legions latest spread to Freddie's face, he grew a beard to cover them up, and he lived under a veil of secrecy. He would receive medical attention during off hours wearing a big hat and coat. Unlike most people, he could actually afford to seek treatments anywhere in the world, like Rock Hudson, by the late 80s, an anti retroviral drug called ese T was fast tracked by the FDA for treating aids. That's in the 80s Yeah, yeah, that's like a huge treatment. I thought it was in the 90s. I didn't realize it was 80s that this happened, but it was in an early stage in that work. And so well, yeah, my a friend of mine in high school, he, he he wasn't he wasn't front about an acquaintance. He hated this bio teacher. So he started a rumor that he was you want not a friend of mine again, not a friend of mine. Know he started a rumor that the this teacher was found in the woods behind the school having checked with a guy and they had a bunch of AC T on them. Like weird, like lights? Or maybe it was like a Richard Gere thing. It swept the entire town. Everyone was like was the nation because the guy was was kind of weird anyway, so it was believable. It was kind of believable, but why would you be fucking in a circle of AC T packet? I didn't make it. When I was a kid. I'm like, Oh my God. Yeah, you probably have to have that on you the whole time. Why would you be fucking with AC T? It's not like it's a lube. Yeah, I didn't make any. It doesn't make any sense now, but at that time, we were like, oh, that's real. What people probably like stay away from them. Well, it turned out it turned out this teacher just gave him a bad grade and we didn't know who started who didn't know who started the rumor and we found out like, like last year I found out it was his kid. Oh, just last year. Yeah, I was under the belief that he was really having sex with AZT that's the thing with these things the fucking rumors can catch fire and you have no idea what the truth is and what it's actually not. What a way to get revenge for a B plus on the scarlet letter paper. Yeah. Get over it. Yeah, he was fucking to kill against a tree surrounded by AZT packets. Yeah. You think Gary Glitter just had a disgruntled student went to prison. He went to frame him. Yeah. So AC T Freddie anxiously begins taking it as the drug appeared to have positive effects, improvement in weight. gain higher tea for cell counts and minimize infections. People were happy to be guinea pigs at this time, because that was their only hope of surviving. Oh, it wasn't had the virus. Yeah, it was not a cure, but it would prolong lives. So they thought at the time, but there were a host of bad side effects, including extreme anemia. And in some cases, the depletion of t for cell counts. So it would go up and down. So can you imagine taking this and then not only is it not working, but sometimes it's making you feel worse? And it's your big hope that you think my cure you? Yeah. And it's fucked up. Because what HIV and AIDS does is destroy your T cell counts, and now the treatment is destroying your T cell counts even quicker. Like, that's crazy. Yes, some people died very fast after taking it thinking that it was going to help them and others didn't have prolonged lives. It's just that sort of thing. And they are primed to sign off on everything saying like, this is experimental. And again, when you're covered in those lesions, and your days are numbered, you'll do anything. Yeah. So Friday's best friend Peter Stryker said Fred, he kept everything to himself and never talked about his treatments, despite the fact that it was all around him. people he knew, including John Murphy, the guy that had sex with gay Tom Duga and James windthrow, and Tony Bastien all died by AIDS at this point, Jesus, people were dropping like crazy from that his circle of friends was getting smaller and smaller. He even caught out his friend Peter striker. He cut him out of his life just because he wanted to be striker. I don't believe so. He's still alive. Oh, yeah. But his best friend. Like that's Yeah. In his final years, Friday split his time between London and Montreux, Switzerland. He bought a house there near mountain Studios, where Queen recorded most of their albums actually Wow, his other sanctuary was garden lodge in Kensington, an eight bedroom Georgian mansion with high brick walls surrounding the estate and an extensive garden. Ex Girlfriend, Mary Austin spotted the place in 1980. And Freddie Mercury purchased it for 500,000 pounds within 30 minutes of seeing that his lifestyle change significantly. And this is a clip from an interview he gave in 1987. As the affected you, well. Pretty powerful how it has the the AIDS pretty. How is your dying affecting you? It's going great for the fog being affected you? Well. Which is, which is yes. Well, I mean, I stopped going out whatever. And to be honest, I've almost become a nun. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I thought sex was a very important thing. To me. And I've lived through something and now just realize how amazing I've just gone completely away. And it's pregnant. Exactly. And I just just, I have I've just stopped having sex with you. Yeah, you've given up saying to me Sex was a very integral ingredient to what I was doing. It was excess in every direction. And I don't I don't miss it. I really don't. Well, yeah, when it's gotten to that point, it's, you know, it becomes less pleasurable, pleasurable. Yeah, because terrifying. Don't stop me now to please stop me. Yeah, for real. His new boyfriend Jim Hutton. A ruggedly handsome Irishman, eventually moved in with him and would stay by his side until his dying day. They met years earlier at the Copacabana, a club near his home garden Lodge. But Hutton was unavailable when Freddie first put the moves on him telling the singer fuck off. Realizing who he was, they later reconnected. Wow, Freddie would introduce Jim as the gardener. So he's still hiding his sexuality. In public. He would be seen with Mary by his side. Still doing that. Fucking trauma runs deep. It's awful the way they made gay people feel Yeah. At home, he surrounded himself with beloved cats, photos and art collectibles. He loved his policies. Hey, he and Tim loved also online form old movies, and they were to watch flicks like Some Like It Hot and Imitation of Life. As Freddy knocked out of the public eye as much as possible tabloid rags continued to be relentless in their pursuit of his personal life. To make matters worse, Freddie's former manager Paul printer spilled salacious details to the sun. Oh, no, and I'm talking about the paper, not the thing by the Murdoch family. So Paul printer was still bitter after being fired by Freddie for throwing a huge party at his house without permission. In the towel interview printer claimed that Freddie once phoned him in an AIDS panic. He named Jim Hutton as his boyfriend. He said that Freddie drank excessively and did cocaine with David Bowie and Rod Stewart. Everyone's probably going so. And yet, for real, he provided photos of some of Freddie's lovers. As Freddie's health got worse, music seemed to be the only thing that kept him going. In 1987, he released the hit cover version of the great pretender as a solo artist. And that song also served as a kind of description of Freddie in general. He kind of was the great pretender Yeah. And then he collaborated on the classical pop album Barcelona with opera singer Montserrat have a wife Hello, no close friend, who was one of the few who knew about his diagnosis. Then we got queens next album, the first since the magic tour, and a kind of magic, called the Miracle released in May 1989. During the recording process, Freddy would disappear to receive treatments and his bandmates were starting to suspect something but at the same time, Brian Mayer calls it been a rather happy experience because they were so inspired. And this is the first album that they all decided to share songwriting credit, so it's all credited to Queen and they just felt like really inspired to make this album wait so Freddie Mercury was always the songwriter? No, they all wrote songs which is interesting about that band not many bands have it where all members wrote at least one major hit song because John Deacon did another one bites the dust and you're my best friend, Brian May row we will rock you. So it was like a meritocracy. Whoever had the best songs you get the credit for the ones that you did. And so no one was starving. No, they're all insanely rich. They're all getting songs. If that's just him. Yeah. Yeah. Like, like YouTube does that they share all the all the maybe that's why they got that idea. Could be because it doesn't like create bitterness within the band. Like Billy Corgan, I was gonna say Smashing Pumpkins as big as he was like, they took him aside at the beginning, like, you better share all the publishing with these people, or it's kind of turned bad. He's like, now in fact that I wrote the shot. Like, I know, like, you could give a little bit to them. And he's like, No, give give me what I'm worth, like, give me the fucking song. Right, which is a little penny going, but I didn't know how much it was gonna be. Yeah, that's true. Like, it's so after he made so much money. He fucking was like, okay, I can see why you guys are mad at me. I could have been doing like crazy tours, like, you know, four year in and year out. But he always had some rotating group of people that will always want to leave him because he's such a maniac. I love his music. But he's, he's a piece of shit. Yeah. Talking about Billy Corgan. Yeah, yeah. So celebrity skin and didn't get much from that either. So what goes around comes around the whole album I'm referring. And now I'm referring to the miracle album, Queens 1989 release, which is a fantastic album. What's a big song off that? The miracle? Yeah, so there's none. No, but you guys aren't as big Queen fans as I am. Because I always loved this album and the song The miracle. It's a lot of great stuff on this hard rock. And I think this is a true return to form. I was more of a greatest hits fan myself. I understand. But the miracle was on one of the greatest hits CDs, okay. But oh, just like the greatest hits. It's shocking to know that he was battling aids during this album. I'm talking from when I first heard it. Yeah, because you would never assume that his voice is still as strong as ever. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. After the album's release, Mercury did no press for it. He did appear in the videos. And for the titular song titular love it. They had the ingenious idea of using kids to lip sync the lyrics Yeah, that's great. Sure we have right now, if you're looking at our video, this looks like a terrible Nickelodeon show. But I implore our audience to go and watch the music video for the miracle by Queen. That's funny. This is an amazing music video. Yeah, just watch it. Oh, yeah. And Mercury joked that maybe they should send the kids on tour for them while he's probably that tired. Yeah, they couldn't tour Yeah, he definitely couldn't tour. So the miracle was a huge success worldwide. That summer, the band travelled to Montreux and got right to work on their next album, because they didn't know how much time they have left. And they're suspecting something over dinner one evening, Freddy came clean. And here's a clip of Brian May and Roger Taylor talking about that. We wanted to think it was something else, maybe to develop a certain amount of self deception going on. And then I think in the end, it became fairly obvious. And then in the end, he sort of frankly, told us the first time we really knew was when we got together in mantra. And Freddie just sat down and said, Okay, you guys probably know what's going on with me. You know, what I'm dealing with? I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to take any action apart from carrying on the way we are. I want to keep making music for as long as I can can and we will not dwell on it. We will just go on. So we all went. Okay. And that was it. Yeah, so he said, Write me as much as possible. I'll sing it because that was all he had left was his voice. And he said that when he could no longer sing, that's when he'll drop dead. His final public appearance was at the BRIT Awards on February 18 1990. They were presented the award for Outstanding Contribution to British music. So this is like almost a Lifetime Achievement Award. Yeah. Award for an Outstanding Contribution to British music goes to Queen Thank you. Good night. Wow. I cut out the pie where Brian May spoke but that was all the Friday said. Better if that was the whole thing was like thank you fuck off. So yeah, we will we're like, so good. He was like the center of the band and he would have like tons of things to say typically but then he's like very quick and you know, things aren't added up. No two are for the miracle. Yeah, he looks very thin. They're not saying much. Yeah. And that brings us to February 1991 innuendo, their follow up to the miracle is released in your endo pal. And it's another holding on to that one. Commercial success. The title song hits number one in the UK and the video to promote it used animation. Ooh, so people were starting to wonder Where's Freddy hiding? And why? Oh shit. And by the way innuendo Nether very strong album, and the song is awesome. That's all I have to say. No, because it's kind of like flamenco meets hard rock meets queen. I don't know. Great. Anyway, in this, you know, promo photo. It does seem like things are different. He seems like this is like the first generation Robert Smith. Okay. Yeah. So you're looking at the photo from the video shoot for I am going slightly mad. Clearly a wig. Yeah, yeah, a lot of makeup on his face. Now we looked like Michael Jackson a little bit. Friday was severely ill, but was continuing to record vocals for yet another planned album after innuendo. Sometimes he could hardly stand or sit. Then he takes shots of vodka and hit the high notes. Man. At this point, he had a small catheter installed to ease the intake of medication intravenously, and it wasn't visible it was under his shirt. So to shut down speculation, they said okay, Friday, maybe you should appear in a couple of videos. So that's the picture we're looking at now for I'm going slightly mad and to mask his condition. He had the idea of being a wacky, no coward type character. He's wearing a wig heavy makeup and the video is filled with all kinds of wacky imagery and it shot in black and white. Then they made a video for the song. These are the days of our lives, written by Roger Taylor about his family but It actually was about Freddie as well. The video was shot on May 30 1991. In London, Freddie appeared pale and gaunt. He was in immense pain from lesions on his foot and could hardly move. He had to stand still static. He was favorite waistcoat decorated with images of his cats. And this was the last time he was in front of the video camera. And we have a clip here. The first part of the clip is the color version without the black and white filter added and that later you'll see that filter they added for the finished product. Sometimes I get to feel I was back in the old office I still love you. Even with all the makeup and everything going on. There's still you know, messing with the contrast and stuff. Yeah, yeah. This is really brutal. So he looks straight into the camera and says I still love you then does a switch of the hand and leaves the frame. And that's his last word. That's it. That's it. Oh, my God. And I don't believe correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they showed that in Bohemian Rhapsody. No. Yeah, again, the movie. It's once upon a time in England. The movie ends with him telling Yeah, that he has AIDS at Live Aid. Yeah, it's like Live Aid like the biggest like everyone's going crazy. Then there's like, still freeze frame. By the way. Freddy died of AIDS like 10 years later. Yeah, we cut to the grave. Oh, yes. You bet about Freddy. And he won the Oscar without having to do that part which that would be like the Oscar where that art. That's the real nitty gritty like the Yeah, the grittiness of this role. He had an easy ask her when she had the hiding of everything and ran it. He did a great job. Lip Syncing. Yes. Joaquin Phoenix actually sang those songs and walked the line. Sorry, her just saying. Yeah, yeah. Freddie posed for one more photo on August 28 1991. Jim Hutton captured Freddy standing in front of his Japanese garden with his beloved cat by his side. days later, he surprised close friends by hosting a birthday party out of the blue. They had dinner and champagne. And then when he got too tired, he said stay if you like a fuck off. So not a big show compared to his other party. I hate saying this, but I can't help but think that he looks like Pee Wee Herman right. I was gonna say the same thing. I was like, I don't want to disrespect this podcast, but looks like Paul Reubens really quick. I just want to say really quick. I just wanted to go. Yes, so in this photo in his garden, his pants are pulled up really high because he's so thin. They won't stay up. And he looks somewhat at peace. Yeah. If it Live Aid instead of him gone. It's just dying here, Kyle. Yeah, I brought it up. Now this episode has died. No, it's living baby. The Sun newspaper. The Murdochs showed no mercy in the coming weeks as Freddie wasted away. They published a photo of him outside his home after running errands. They caught him looking like a ghoul. And they published it. They exploit every thing about anyone. Yeah, that's why they that's their business model. You know, they got caught, you know, hacking the phone of the kidnap girl McCann you know, remember that happened like 10 years ago. This is what they do. He made one more trip to Montra in October 1991, before returning to garden lodge in Kensington to live the rest of his days in peace. The final single firm innuendo had just been released October 1991. And that single The show must go on. Which again, that's a classic Queen song. Yeah. And he recorded that in his dying days, and his vocals are as strong as ever go listen to the show must go on. Yeah, that is not a dying man. But it was. And of course Brian May wrote that about Freddy. So it was very poignant that he was singing those lyrics. You With the ability to make music gone, what more did he have left and therefore, while in Switzerland, he had taken the decision to finally stop the medication that was keeping him alive, he would still take painkillers. They were necessary to keep the intense pain at bay. But drugs such as Gunsite, clivia and septarian would have no further place. Freddy had lived life his way and lived it fully. Freddie lost all strength and was starting to go blind. He could no longer leave his bad without assistance blind. Mary Austin made regular trips to see him and made sure that he was as comfortable as possible. His family even came to see him and he told his sister that he had incurable blood disease. Not wrong, but like obviously still sugarcoating a little bit AIDS is not as well known right now is I don't know, and he didn't come out to his parents ever. Wow. Like his disease or sexuality. He said Jim Hutton was his good friend. Oh, right. Okay, you're right. Among the other friends who came to see him were Elton John and Dave Clark of the Dave Clark Five. Apparently they were really good friends. Is that was that an actor? Was that a singer? Singer? The Dave Clark Five. Oh, yeah, gotcha. Okay. Also living in the house was Joe finale, who was the chef and former lover of Freddie Mercury. Oh my god. It's like Downton Abbey over Yeah, no one leaves. Thursday, November 21 1991. Jim Hutton helped ready downstairs in the wee hours of the morning to look at photos and admire his art collection. So he sat on his sofa with all the lights on and just looked around the room. Friday, November 22 1991, Freddie's assistant Peter Freeston, called Queens manager Jim Beech over to the house, for Edie was in and out of consciousness, but they talked for over five hours in his bedroom, interrupted only by Joe delivering refreshments. Afterwards, Jim Beech told everyone that Freddie wished to release a statement to the press announcing he had AIDS. They released the statement at midnight so that the proper news channels could report it rather than the tabloids. The statement read, quote, following the enormous conjecture in the press over the last two weeks, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV positive and have AIDS. I hope that everyone will join with me, my doctors and all those worldwide in the fight against this terrible disease. That's not the whole statement, but you get the point. Freddy had a peaceful night following the release of the statement, but then a restless one on Saturday and into Sunday morning. At one point he almost choked on a piece of mango, which got lodged in his throat. Around 6am Jim Hutton helped Freddie to the bathroom. But then while lowering him back into bed, he heard a distressing crack. They called his doctor over Dr. Atkinson, who gave him an injection of morphine. At some point between 630 and 6:45pm. Dr. Atkinson was leaving to go get food. Jim Hutton and Peter Freeston were escorting him to the car. But when they got back inside, Dave Clark came downstairs to ask for help taking Freddy to the bathroom. But when they reentered the bedroom, Freddy was no longer breathing. So Dr. Atkinson rushed back to help them but sadly realized there was nothing more that could be done. So it's

6:

48pm. Sunday, November 24 1991. Freddie Mercury was pronounced dead. A small funeral service was held a few days later, and he was cremated in accordance with his family's Zoroastrian faith. Yeah, Freddie left 50% of his estate to his sister and parents. So sister got 25% His parents got 25% And then the other 50% to Mary Austin. Really well also inherited garden Lodge. Nice. Gym hot, not nice, but like, you know, she, yeah, got some heat. So that was the place that was next to her place. Yeah, home man, Jim Hutton. His partner got 500,000 pounds among other gifts and he snuck in at the end. I know. He did a little slide safe. Yeah. 500 grand. By the way, Jim, for him not to step on your joke. But Jim Hudson was also HIV positive and died in 2010. She and Joe he's stuck around a lot longer. Yeah. And Joe finale, the chef was also dying of AIDS at this time and died months later. She uses Yeah, so Jim Hutton got 500 grand right there at the end. lived another 19 years. Yeah. And so you know how I said the Queen had fallen out of favor in the United States? Yeah. Well, three months after Freddie's death, a little movie came out Wayne's World. Hit it. Saw this Quinsey center baby back Hi. This is what got me in human Rhapsody. Gentlemen. Good call got everyone into it. So good I see a little silhouette. I've got a Moog Scott. Do that time Dang. Very very frightening camera amazing song like, oh, it's Queen really? And then you look them up and you realize there was this amazing band you'd never heard of the studio wanted to use Guns and Roses like Appetite for Destruction or something like Myers spot for Bohemian Rhapsody? Yeah. And then it hit the top of the US charts again after Wayne's worlds release because Wayne's World made $100 million. Yeah, more. Yeah. And then bohemian wraps. Yeah, always one of the biggest hits of the year. Yeah. Wow. Meyers movies were just like fucking Well, for the most part, except for So I Married an Axe Murderer. That has to be the biggest SNL release. Absolutely. There's no comparison. Yeah, I was gonna say call them heads. Yeah. Conan. There's no other SNL movie that's done over 100 million that I know of. No way not. Granted, we love it fat duffel bag. Superstar. Ladies, man. Yeah, sorry. What was the wasn't the heads so no, no, no, they had David Spade. What was the one that night at the Roxbury with Chris cutout? Oh, yeah. Amelia? Oh. Such a bad movie. Where had the one moment where they say Amelia, that proves my case that 90s SNL was the best casts, because I heard Lauren say like, well, usually it's the time that you're in high school. You think that's the best cast but also but 90 to 99 is undefeated. Like Pat is amazing. SNL cast Yeah, you can't find another decade like that. Never 80s had great in the 70s had great specific cast members. Yeah, but the whole way through 90 to 99 is so fun. impersonations were so funny because they were all inspired by Dana Carvey his version of just heightening to the absurdity that they're not even real person anymore. It's just like, not Canada, you know. Amazing. Yeah. And Wayne's World capture that. Hell yeah. Yeah. And it was able to propel queen to another level. Yeah, right after Freddie died, and then I bought the greatest hits right after that. I can't believe that. Yeah, he died the same. He died so clean could live. It was months later. Yeah. Early 1992. February 1992 was when Wayne's World came out. He died late November 1991. And I've heard that he was aware of Wayne's World. I'd like to see if he saw a rough cut they say that he saw some of it and that he was happy about it. That's gonna be like a fever dream to be like wait, people from SNL and then the guy from married with children? Yeah, girly in there somewhere? No, but he knows sees the Ed O'Neill part of killing a man. You just see the steam of the wound coming out or whatever. It was so good. You could not have predicted that Wayne's World that opens with Bohemian Rhapsody. Yes. And it skips the piano part for time but it plays most of the song. Yeah, and that's the opening of this 100 million dollar blockbuster. We got $5,000 So yeah, they love Mike Meyers. Yeah, the other members. Check Shrek Yeah. That kept Brian man big hair for a while. The remaining members of Queen along with manager Jim Beech organized the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS awareness, which was held on April 20 for 2019 92 at Wembley Stadium, Wembley Trembley Wembley, home of Live Aid and home of their last big concert hurts. Oh yeah. The proceeds were used to launch Mercury Phoenix trust, a charity organization dedicated to fighting AIDS. And if you remember from the George Michael episode, George Michael killed it at this concert. Sure deforming somebody to love. Yes. Yeah, we played that clip and I always cried. Yeah, and Axl Rose and Elton John performed Bohemian Rhapsody. Yeah. And John Deacon retired not long after they released one more album under the Queen name called Made in Heaven in 1995. And that was using Mercurys last vocal recordings. Wow. including one called Mother Love where he told Brian May I can't finish the last verse. I'll do it next time. And there was no next town. So Brian May sings the final verse. Wow. After made in heaven, John Deacon retired. And he's worth like $100 million. The basis Wow. Because he wrote those songs like another one bites the dust. Yeah. And Brian May and Roger Taylor decided that they didn't have enough money. So they've been taken Queen on the road. However, they can sense that well, they have Adam Lambert now, I didn't know they were touring still. Oh, yeah. Without a Lambert. They did that movie, which made a billion dollars. Yeah. And then for a while they were going around with Paul Rogers from bad company. So and there was that Broadway so we will rock you. Yeah, they have been milking it. Yeah. Oh, milk. Are you kidding? They're like a couple of farmers. That's probably why they didn't want the movie to be like some arthouse kind of like, you know, gritty movie. No, they couldn't have our version. They want some broad, you know, huge movie that everyone would get into, Oh, I was so mad at my old roommate. Who both you know, he went and party with Remy Malik before like, while he was doing the filming for a comedian, Rhapsody, really. And Remy called his brother, who has special needs and like they did like a FaceTime together and like, everybody was friends. It was all good. And until he gave me his cell phone numbers, like come back party here anytime we'll hang out, blah, blah, blah. But he was too scared to hit him up because he was such a fan of Mr. Robot. Yeah, and we all and he was stunned by ours, like frozen with fear. I don't want to bother this guy. Me and this dude, my roommate went to the movies, there was a huge like, build out for Bohemian Rhapsody. And I was like, take a picture, send it to him and say hope you get the Oscar because he was already nominated by that time. And he's like, he's not gonna fucking win it. I don't want to bother him. Then he fucking wins the Oscar and I'm like, You're out. You're done forever. Yeah, you'll never see that guy ever. Yeah, you're done. You've outlived your useful purpose. He's at another level. Yeah, he doesn't need any minions at your level. Yeah, he needs yes man at this level. Exactly. But yeah, you must be this tall to yeah be friends with Remy Malik and he wasn't hitting that if you know what I mean. And the last collaboration I want to mention is Brian May did it forgotten. collab with some boy band for a remake of We Will Rock You the song Oh gosh. In the early 2000s play that Yeah. Lesser known venture. It's like at the end of Elvis when like the colonel was just having them do like, you know, bubble gum songs and anything to like, just squeeze as much money out of this as he could possible and then the Netflix documentary about Adam Lambert joining queen. They actually made a documentary about this. The worst thing ever. Brian Mae says something like, you know with Freddie. It's like lightning in a bottle. You only get that magic rally. And I truly believe we found that magic twice. Yeah. Wow. What a mean thing to say. Don't get me wrong. Adam Lambert is a fantastic singer. Yeah, he does not fit in with Freddie Mercury's voice. He's like an American Idol guy, right? Yeah, exactly. But you don't want to say like, oh, the lead singer of Queen was fine. Like Freddy is a once in a lifetime. Fucking amazing. Adam Lambert is the best guy at karaoke. Adam Lambert. Yeah, that's all amazing. He's great on his own, he can fucking crush his own songs. But when it comes to Queen it's like you're not holding the candle bra. Doesn't every band do that? Like when their their lead singer dies they bring on Adam Lambert or some version of that in excess should have done that. Yeah, yeah, for real. Yeah. And then had the guy come up with like with the rope hanging around then burn Geldof in effigy. And then they tour with Queen and Adam like, yeah, that'd be cool. I'd go see that. Maybe Clay Aiken could be the in excess guy. Wait, I have an idea who opens up for them great white the place down before the concert starts. Yeah. And then after that All right kids final thoughts. Recipes Freddie Mercury rest in peace fucking once in a lifetime talent, if not the best singer in rock and roll. Definitely one of the best great, great height man. Great singer. Great. Great all of it. Great lover. Okay, we've heard from you apparently. Well versed in this way of YouTube in this whole body socket and fucking international waters. You can't say he didn't have fun. No, he lived a full life. Every last bit of life. How old was he when he died? 45. Oh my god. That's so scary. The closer I get to 40. Now, I'm like, I've been sucked, in fact that much. Since the beginning of the AIDS pandemic, around 84 million people have been infected and 40 million people have died from it. And the Reagan White House did nothing about it and nothing the Bush administration. The first one didn't do that much. I don't know. It's not like they didn't do enough. It's like they actively harmed that entire community. Georgia. Yeah. So let's just hope one day there is an actual care. Oh, and until then, you know, if you're gonna go have a bunch of sex, maybe sign up for PrEP, which blocks Yes, the contraction of HIV. And if you have HIV, there are medications where you can live a full healthy life might drop. Thanks for listening. Yes, I do. 100% Do we have a mailbag? Do we have a mailbag today? One of our newest, most talented fans are Leigh Grimm. Kim sounds like something from Bohemian Rhapsody. Yeah, they have an amazing I believe it's just grim camp on Instagram. I'm gonna look that up right now. With all the skull. Yes. Images. Yeah, so they're perfect for us. We're big fans, big fans. It's just at grim gimp and I'm gonna put that on the screen for you guys. But they wrote this episode is so good. What episode was the rose petal murder? The rose petal murder. Grim camp told us this episode is so good. I've already listened to it twice. I've never heard of this case. It's crazy. Which Yes, it is. And if you haven't listened to the rose petal murder. We're going to give you the warning again. Don't listen to it if you're sensitive to certain topics, because that is one of the most offensive not on our behalf. But the actual crimes we cover are so patently horrific. It involves buggery and pedophilia. incest. Yeah. And then it gets bad. Yeah, talk about crime that talk about True Crime unleashed. Yeah. And also, Derek C said what percentage of vets are doing this to dogs? Apparently not zero. Which is true. And you need to listen to the episode to find out what vets are doing to these dogs. Yeah. Spoiler kinda hint hint. Woof woof. We're gonna actually gonna be setting up a voicemail soon we can so people can can just let it you know, let it flow. Yeah, just whenever you want to call us on Facebook or Instagram or try to find our phone numbers. Just call this voicemail and just let it out. We're talking to you, Jack. We still love you. We still love us and go crazy on our voicemail. Now we could play it on our actual show. Yeah, yeah. Other than that, please check out our patreon.com/death and entertainment. Absolutely. We have a whole bunch of content that a lot of people that subscribe to us on YouTube have not been been able to see so far. So yeah, it's all exclusive content, five or 10 bucks. And you get a whole bunch of stuff. certain levels. It's all explained there. And yes, please get on that. Yeah, so become an official demo or demo head. Yeah. Other than that, just find us on Tik Tok, YouTube, Instagram, everything at death and entertainment. And we'll be back every week to give you some more creepy content. Because there's plenty of it out there. We love you darlings. We love you. Thank ya. Until next time, don't go dine on us. You have just heard true Hollywood shot I have never seen anything like this before. The movies, Broadway, music, television, all of it, a place that manufactures nightmare. Look everybody that's a wrap. Please drive home carefully and come back again soon.