The 1975 frontman Matty Healy got a whole music festival cancelled in Malaysia after he protested against the country’s anti-LGBTQIA+ laws by kissing bandmate Ross MacDonald on stage.
According to a statement released by Human Rights Watch, it said: “Discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people is pervasive in Malaysia.” It also reports that same-sex activity within the country is punishable by up to 20 years of inprisonment and whipping.
During The 1975’s Good Vibes Festival set in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, Matty went on a lengthy rant calling out the country’s anti-LGBTQIA+ laws.
“I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with,” Matty said.
“And I’m sorry if that offends you, and you’re religious and it’s part of your fucking government.”
He then goes on a rant about a video TikTok and how he was questioned about being a “pedo” for the way he was holding a friend’s child, saying, “You don’t casually insinuate that shit”. Matty then went back to expressing his anger towards the anti-LGBTQIA+ laws.
In case you wanna know what Matty Healy said at #GVF2023 pic.twitter.com/STo0j9kley
— om (@xallehrazax) July 21, 2023
“Unfortunately, you don’t get a set of loads of uplifting songs because I am fucking furious,” he said.
“And that’s not fair on you, ‘cos you’re not representative of you government. ‘Cos you are young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool.”
He then went on to snog the band’s bassist, and soon after they made out, Matty claimed they were “banned” from Kuala Lumpur.
“Alright, we gotta go. We just got banned from Kuala Lumpur. See ya later,” he said as the band exited the stage.
On Saturday, Good Vibes Festival put out a statement announcing that the remainder of the festival would be cancelled following Matty’s actions.
“This decision adheres to the immediate cancellation directive issued at 1.20pm, 22 July 2023, by the Ministry of Communications and Digital. The Ministry has underlined its unwavering stance against any parties that challenge, ridicule, or contravene Malaysian laws,” the statement reads.
Since Matty’s protest, many folks on Twitter from the LGBTQIA+ community in Malaysia called out the singer. Some people labelled the kiss as “white performative activism”.
Other fans of the UK band called the protest smooch “iconic” and praised The 1975 for standing up for what they believe in.
One Twitter user, @Mercuryjax, claims that Matty’s stunt will be used to push more laws against the LGBTQIA+ community in Malaysia.
“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 have carved out spaces and small wins, many of us have gone to jail or been detained doing so.
“Matty pulling that stunt actively endangers 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,” @MercuryJax said.
“All that’s going to happen is our Conservative party will use this to push more laws against us and international entertainment. More misdirected hate will be targeted towards us.
“Like this is performative activism. That’s it. It’d be one thing if he donated his profits to a local queer organisation or offered anything actually substantial to us that could actually push the movement in a helpful way, but all he did was throw a tantrum.”
Matty has since responded to Good Vibes Festival’s cancellation by reposting its statement to his personal Instagram.
“OK, well why don’t you try and not make out with Ross for 20 years. Not as easy as it looks,” he wrote above a screenshot of the festival’s statement.
This isn’t the first time Matty has stood up against anti-LGBTQIA+ laws. In 2019, Matty kissed a male fan onstage in protest of the United Arab Emirates, where homosexuality is punishable by 10 years imprisonment, per BBC.
After the concert, the singer tweeted: “Thank you Dubai you were so amazing. I don’t think we’ll be allowed back due to my ‘behaviour’ but know that I love you and I wouldn’t have done anything differently given the chance again.”
Earlier this year, Matty was embroiled in controversy for reportedly doing a Nazi salute on stage. He was also dragged by Rina Sawayama during her Glastonbury set.
