The 1975’s Matty Healy kissed bandmate Ross MacDonald during the band’s set at Malaysia’s Good Vibes Festival on Friday. The remainder of the festival was subsequently canceled, and despite Healy’s intentions, some members of Malaysia’s LGBTQ community worry that the incident will do more harm than good.
Homosexuality is outlawed in Malaysia and carries a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years. Because of that, Healy said the band “made a mistake” in agreeing to playing the festival. “When we were booking shows, I wasn’t looking into it,” he told the crowd.
“I don’t see the fucking point, right? I do not see the point of inviting the 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with,” he continued. “I’m sorry if that offends you, and you’re religious, and it’s part of your fucking government… I don’t care anymore. If you push, I’m gonna push back. I’m not in the fucking mood.”
“Unfortunately, you don’t get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I’m fucking furious. And that’s not fair on you, because you’re not representative of your government. Cause you are young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive. It’s ridiculous, fucking ridiculous, to tell people what they can do with that and that,” he added, gesturing to his crotch. “If you want to invite me here to do a show, you can fuck off. I’ll take your money. You can ban me, but I’ve done this before, and it doesn’t feel good.”
Shortly after Healy kissed MacDonald, the band was informed that the remainder of their set was canceled. On Saturday, festival organizers announced that the festival’s remaining two days on Saturday and Sunday — which were to be headlined by The Stokes and The Kid Laroi — were also canceled.
In a statement, organizers said, “Prior to the festival, The 1975 management team reassured us that Healy and the band would adhere to local performance guidelines. Regrettably, Healy did not honor these assurances, despite our trust in their commitment. Healy’s actions took us by complete surprise, and we halted the show as promptly as feasible following the incident.”
A representative for The 1975 defended Healy’s actions, saying in a statement, “Matty has a long-time record of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community and the band wanted to stand up for their LGBTQ+ fans and the community.”
While Healy’s actions were meant to be a display of support for LGBTQ rights in Malaysia, some members of the country’s gay community worry about the longterm ramifications. In a viral Twitter thread, Malaysian native Joe Lee expressed concern that the government would use Healy’s actions as justification to target the LGBTQ community and criticized the band for leaving Malaysian fans “to deal with the aftermath.”
Another Twitter user, who identified as a queer Malaysian, said, “Matty and his bandmates are all rich white men who LOSE NOTHING by doing what they did. At most? They lose listeners from Malaysia and earn a little bit less now. They have no actual notable consequences for their speech and stunt. None.”
“Malaysian queers have worked HARD to try and campaign for our rights, many of them are entirely volunteer-based and completely funded by other local queers. We pour alot of blood, sweat, and tears to making sure our peers have a safespace, especially in such a hostile environment,” the Twitter user wrote. “Matty pulling that stunt actively endanger all those efforts by shining a spotlight onto us. Conservatives outrank us here and literally raided Swatch for having a pride collection. All this does is tighten the laws against us and increase the number of eyes on us.”
There are also concerns that Healy’s actions will impact Malaysia’s music industry. “The Malaysia live concert industry [sic] is struggling to bounce back post pandemic,” Joe Lee explained in his Twitter thread. Meanwhile, Good Vibes Festival organizer Future Sound Asia said it feared the incident would “erode the confidence of music promoters and various stakeholders in the live entertainment industry across the nation and threaten the stability of our burgeoning live arts scene.”
The 1975 has been banned from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia after Matty Healy and bandmate Ross MacDonald kissed on-stage during their set at Good Vibes Festival.
Before the kiss, Healy gave a speech on his disappointment in the country’s discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community. pic.twitter.com/XcHuPHiYr5
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) July 21, 2023
Ok. Here’s the thing about the whole Good Vibes Festival issue.
This is entirely MY PERSONAL TAKE based on information and official sources that I have pieced together.
— ᴊᴏᴇ ʟᴇᴇ (@iamjoelee) July 22, 2023
I’m a Queer Malaysian. I know nothing about the 1975 nor Matty Healy, so here are my unbiased thoughts about the whole issue that happened at GVF (a thread) pic.twitter.com/Wick5SbGUd
— Fish (@MercuryJax) July 21, 2023
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