Two male students at a Northfield, Massachusetts prep school have been arrested on three charges of assault for attacking a classmate on Sunday and carving an anti-gay slur on his back with a penknife, allegedly because the victim was a fan of the rock band Queen.

The suspects, 18-year-old Jonathan Shapiro and 20-year old Matthew Rogers, are accused of cutting the word "homo" in 5-inch high letters on the back of an unidentified 17-year old junior at Northfield Mount Hermon School. According to police, one of the attackers called Queen "a gay band."

A faculty member at the coed school of 1100 students told MTV News Thursday that though school administrators have discouraged students and teachers from discussing the case, he can, "definitely say the community is shocked."

Suspect Matthew Rogers had been admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis and was expected to report to the school on July 1. However, on Thursday afternoon Academy spokesperson Karen Meyers told MTV News that the Academy was rescinding Rogers' appointment.

Shapiro and Rogers have pleaded innocent to all charges and have been released on bail.

The news comes amid controversy in the U.K. over the recent issuing of a Queen postage stamp. Late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is honored as part of a series of stamps recognizing the most famous Britons of the last 1,000 years. However, some in the British press have slammed the stamp and the Royal Mail for supporting what it called Mercury's "degenerate lifestyle" (see "Freddie Mercury Stamp Creates Controversy In The U.K.").

Mercury died of AIDS in 1991.