Legendary rock star and 1/4 of the iconic band The Beatles, Paul McCartney expressed his strong opposition towards China reopening its wet markets.

The “Hey Jude” and “Let It Be” singer made his comments on Tuesday as a guest on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show. Stern brought up the topic of wet markets during the interview. Wet markets are a marketplace that sells perishable goods such as fish, fresh produce, and meat, but in China, wet markets are selling more than the usual and normal edible meat, Chinese wet markets also sell freshly slaughtered exotic animals like bats, frogs, and even cats and dogs. McCartney then commented that the Chinese government needs to crack down on that “ancient practice.”

“Let’s hope they say, ‘OK, guys, we have really got to get super hygienic around here.’ And all those kinds of things. Let’s face it; it is a little bit medieval eating bats,” McCartney said. He also said that the communist country needs its people to change with the times, not just about eating, but also with slavery. He also called the country out and told them to “clean up their act,” and that it’s not a good idea to reopen their exotic wet markets. “They don’t need all the people dying. And what’s it for? Just for these quite medieval practices,” the singer continued.

Listen to McCartney’s interview:

McCartney, who is also an animal rights activist, called the help of his fellow musicians and celebrities to stop the Chinese government from reopening its wet markets. McCartney made his comments following the news that Beijing has given the green light to jumpstart wet markets in some areas in their country, including Wuhan, which was ground zero of the coronavirus pandemic.

The rock legend is not alone in fighting for his cause; last week, HBO host Bill Maher also took to Twitter to slam China and its exotic wet markets, even calling them “farmer’s market from hell.”

On April 8, a group of more than 60 US politicians consisting of members from both parties penned a letter to the leaders of the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) calling for China and other countries to completely shut down their “wet markets.”

“In order to help prevent the next pandemic, we write today to urge your organizations to take aggressive action toward a global shut down of live wildlife markets and a ban on the international trade of live wildlife that is not intended for conservation purposes,” the letter read.

In another letter penned to Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai, Sen. Lindsey Graham, together with other bipartisan senators, wrote that they are urgently requesting China to “immediately” shut down all operating wet markets. “It is well documented that wet markets in China have been a source of a number of worldwide health problems, and their operation should cease immediately,” the senators continued.

The senators also expressed that although they understood that wet markets might be a vital part of Chinese society and culture, because of the current coronavirus pandemic, they believe and advise that these markets “call for extreme precautions.”

Scientists also found that 60-75% of infectious diseases come from wildlife and that in the past four decades and more, at least five pandemics all originated from bats, including SARS and the current pandemic the world is facing, COVID-19.

“What can China do to help the world? Shut those markets down,” Sen. Graham declared.