New billboard featuring Freddie Mercury celebrates migrant influence in the UK
Thank God for Immigrants — Created by art and activism crew Everyone Hates Elon, it’s displayed in Liverpool, where Queen first played together as a band.
A new billboard featuring Freddie Mercury has been unveiled in Liverpool, marked with the caption: “Thank God for Immigrants.”
Created by art and activism collective Everyone Hates Elon, the billboard is inspired by the work of Jeremy Deller, who in recent years has created a series expressing solidarity with migrants using the same phrase, as well as a billboard featuring George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley of Wham!.
According to the group, Deller gave the collective his support in creating the Freddie Mercury piece. Everyone Hates Elon announced the action on Instagram yesterday, with a post that read: “Freddie Mercury came to the UK as a kid because people that looked like him were being killed back home in Zanzibar.”
It continued: “But he didn’t become British by getting famous. He became British by building a life here. Just as a factory worker, a doctor, or anybody else does.”
The campaign comes at a time when anti-migrant sentiment has been on the rise in the UK. In September, far-right activist Tommy Robinson’s “Unite the Kingdom” march saw over 100,000 people turn out, with footage appearing to show a handful of attendees singing along to Queen’s 1977 classic ‘We Are the Champions’.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s party Reform UK is currently polling in first place, having campaigned with a plan to deport 600,000 migrants if it won power at the next election.
A spokesperson for Everyone Hates Elon told Huck: “Most of us don’t realise how immigration has shaped our lives – whether someone scored a goal for your team or saved your life at the hospital. It doesn’t matter if you’re a singer or a scaffolder – all kinds of people have built this country and made Britain what it is today.
“People across the country worship icons like the ones on our billboards, yet we are expected to blame immigrants for our problems. It’s a disgusting distraction tactic by the rich and powerful,” they continued.
“Let’s refuse to believe the lies spread by the likes of the world’s richest man Elon Musk or the tax avoiding owner of the Daily Mail, Lord Rothermere, and save our anger for those truly responsible for disappearing GP appointments and rip off bills: billionaires and their politician friends.”
Previous actions by Everyone Hates Elon have seen the crew unfurl a huge banner featuring a photograph of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein together at Windsor Castle during the former’s recent visit to the UK, as well as destroying a Tesla to protest against Elon Musk and wealth inequality.
Isaac Muk is Huck’s digital editor. Follow him on Bluesky.
Buy your copy of Huck 82 here.
Enjoyed this article? Follow Huck on Instagram and sign up to our newsletter for more from the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture.
Support stories like this by becoming a member of Club Huck.
You might like
Inside an NHS hospital at breaking point
‘It‘s relentless‘ — While Covid infection rates may be dropping, the crisis continues unabated inside hospitals. Politics Editor Ben Smoke reports from Homerton Hospital, London, speaking to frontline medical staff about the profound emotional and physical toll they face every single day.
The people fighting back against an AI future
The lasting community legacy of a legendary Californian boxing gym
Moretón — Since opening in the ’80s, the Coachella Valley Boxing Club has trained multiple world champions, while providing a vital hub for local youth. In his new photobook, Darren Vargas documents its tight-knit, Chicano-led community, while also weaving a deeply personal story.
Join Club Huck+ to get the most from Huck
Dispatches from the sharp edge of culture — Members get our print magazine, special photozines, The Huck Long Read newsletter, discounts from our friends and partners, digital versions of back issues and priority access to events.
Signs of solidarity as London marks three years of genocide in Palestine
Never forget — 250,000 people gathered on Saturday as Israeli attacks have continued in Gaza and the West Bank. Daisy Schofield photographed the diverse people and placards in attendance.
Landmark new exhibition is celebrating 50 years of female punk
God Save the Queens — The Museum of Youth Culture is bringing together rare photography, archive material and a one-night-only supergroup featuring members of X-Ray Spex, The Slits and The Raincoats.
