The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy addresses the band’s tumultuous experience in Malaysia following their bold stance on LGBTQ+ rights.
Matty Healy revealed the details during a performance in Hawaii on 6 August. Just before the group dived into playing ’28’, Healy told the audience: “All I’ll say is that I don’t give a fuck about any white saviour complex bullshit. What I’ll say is that doing the right thing often requires quite a lot of sacrifice and very little reward… And me and Ross [MacDonald] nearly shaved our heads because we thought we were going to prison for being f*gs”. Cue the dropping of jaws. You can check out the clip below.
READ MORE: Matty Healy and Taylor Swift | The story so far…
But it gets juicier. Healy then leaned over and planted a kiss on bassist Ross MacDonald’s lips. Unfortunately, their time in the spotlight was curtailed abruptly — just seven songs in — and the bombshell dropped: Malaysia had given them the boot, effectively cancelling the remaining days of Good Vibes Festival.
Matty Healy revealed the details during a performance in Hawaii on 6 August. Just before the group dived into playing ’28’, Healy told the audience: “All I’ll say is that I don’t give a fuck about any white saviour complex bullshit. What I’ll say is that doing the right thing often requires quite a lot of sacrifice and very little reward… And me and Ross [MacDonald] nearly shaved our heads because we thought we were going to prison for being f*gs”. Cue the dropping of jaws. You can check out the clip below.
Now, for the uninitiated, here’s a little backstory. The 1975 lads found themselves banned from Malaysia after they dared to challenge the nation’s strict anti-LGBTQ laws while headlining Kuala Lumpur’s famed Good Vibes Festival. In typically unfiltered Healy style, during the festival set on 21 July, he announced: “I made a mistake. When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it… I don’t see the fucking point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with,”. And just when you thought it was heated enough, he added, “your government are a bunch of fucking retards and I don’t care anymore. If you push, I am going to push back. I am not in the fucking mood.”@tcims ♬ original sound – tcims
READ MORE: Matty Healy and Taylor Swift | The story so far…
But it gets juicier. Healy then leaned over and planted a kiss on bassist Ross MacDonald’s lips. Unfortunately, their time in the spotlight was curtailed abruptly — just seven songs in — and the bombshell dropped: Malaysia had given them the boot, effectively cancelling the remaining days of Good Vibes Festival.
Hot on the heels of that controversy, Future Sound Asia, the brains behind Good Vibes, has come out guns blazing and has slapped The 1975 with a Letter Of Claim. If yesterday’s (7 August) press release is anything to go by, FSA is looking to get paid for the damages the band allegedly caused. And if The 1975 doesn’t pay up? They’ll be seeing them in an English courtroom. “In particular, lead singer Matthew Timothy Healy’s use of abusive language, equipment damage, and indecent stage behaviour… tarnished the reputation of the 10-year-old festival,” the press release claimed. But that’s not the end of the story. The Malaysian LGBTQ+ community isn’t applauding Healy. In fact, they’ve criticised him for possibly making life harder for them. By the end of July, 18 police reports emerged, and Thomas Philip, a prominent Malaysian law firm, is prepping for a class-action lawsuit, terming the incident a “deliberate reckless act”. But, ever the showmen, The 1975 had a cheeky nod to the whole drama during their Lollapalooza set. Healy naughtily started, “You want my travel tip? Don’t go to…” The band played him off, launching into ‘It’s Not Living If It’s Not With You’.The 1975 are expected to face legal consequences after Matty Healy called out Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQ laws and kissed a bandmate during a concert in Kuala Lumpur last month: https://t.co/0RYWW59uA1 pic.twitter.com/ANRMo41d1B
— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) August 7, 2023
