The 1975 frontman Matty Healy is coming under fire for his problematic remarks.
The controversy started when the 33-year-old singer appeared on The Adam Friedland Show podcast Thursday, during which he talked about musicians like Pink and Harry Styles queerbaiting. Matty said on the podcast episode:
“Did you see that Pink’s getting canceled for looking like a lesbian for her career and now that’s being regarded as queerbaiting? Loads of 18-year-olds are being like, ‘She’s done irreparable damage to the lesbian community.’”
When the host asked the artist why he thought Harry, who has never labeled his sexuality, was allowed to “queerbait,” Matty claimed that the 29-year-old “gets a pass” for it from his fans:
“He gets a pass, I don’t know… I actually don’t think the gays really like it, it’s young girls that think it’s a new thing that are like, ‘Oh my god.’”
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From there, the conversation veered into Matty and the host making several problematic remarks, including saying that “gay men don’t have a problem with somebody pretending to be gay, they just jack off to it.” The artist responded to that comment, saying:
“Yeah. Maybe it’s not all gay guys but it’s a lot of them”
And it didn’t stop there. Elsewhere on the podcast, they also made several derogatory remarks about women, used the R-word, and mocked Chinese and Hawaiian accents. At one point, Matty and the hosts were discussing a gambling website, and one of them said that “they have child porn on the website.” The songwriter responded:
“Shout out!”
Disgusting. You can listen to the podcast episode (below):
Since the podcast’s release, many people have stormed social media to blast Matty for not only calling out Harry for queerbaiting when he has engaged in similar actions before but for making homophobic comments and offensive remarks throughout the entire interview. See the Twitter reactions (below):
“and you wonder why harry doesn’t like you and refused to perform with your band when you have this god awful shit to say about him… the blatant homophobia… and coming from matty healy of all people? “
“Harry Styles and Matty Healy being in the same room after that podcast is just asking for trouble #Brits2023”
“wait the problem people are having with the matty healy thing is him calling harry styles a queerbaiter AND NOT THE MOCKING ASIAN PEOPLE???”
“The thing that has me confused about the podcast Is Matty Healy slating Harry for ‘queerbaiting’ cause of his style yet he has literally done the exact same”
“I don’t know anything about the 1975 or Matty Healy but there’s no excuses for this behavior and it’s honestly so gross what the hell.”
“Matty Healy wtf is wrong with you”
“This Matty Healy podcast genuinely sounds like listening to a group of sex deprived teenage boys. It’s actually terrifying – the misogyny, homophobic vocabulary and overall derogatory tones of the entire thing is so so concerning. What the f**k has happened to this man?”
“matty healy practice what u preach challenge… maybe don’t do performance art commenting on toxic masculinity if you’re only gonna turn around and feed right into it”
“that matty healy of all people thinks that he has any right to say anything about “queerbaiting” and harry’s self expression is f**king wild“
Matty has not responded to the backlash at this time, but he has since deleted his Twitter account. Reactions to the controversy, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via WENN/Avalon, MEGA/WENN]
